Man acquitted of charges over fake $50 bill

(CNS): A 23-year-old man from George Town has been acquitted by a jury of charges relating to acounterfeit CI$50 bill after the crown failed to persuade the two men and four women that Aaron Hydes knew the cash was forged when he presented it at South Coast Bar in October 2011. Hydes was charged with uttering a false note but claimed he had no idea it wasn’t real when he tried to purchase two beers from the bar in Breakers. Visiting judgeMichael Mettyear told the jury Tuesday, after a trial that lasted less than two hours, that the only thing they had to decide was whether or not Hydes knew the money was fake. It took them less than thirty minutes to bring back their verdict of not guilty after the short hearing, in which Hydes said the note was given to him by friends he was giving a ride to North Side.

He told the court that they had all stopped at the bar and one of his friends handed him the fifty dollar note and asked him to go buy two beers. When he went inside he handed over the note but the bar tender examined it under the light and began talking about it not being real.

As that was happening, his friend, who was in the car, whistled to him to come outside. Leaving the note and the beers, Hydes told the woman serving him that he would be right back. However, when he reached the car, his friend insisted that they left immediately. He told the court that shortly after that his friend revealed the note was not real. Hydes was adamant, however, that he did not know that when he tried to use it in the bar.

Prathna Bodden, Hydes’ defence attorney, told the jury that the prosecution had presented no evidence or proof of any kind that Hydes did know the note was not real, as she pleaded her client’s innocence. The crown’s case was based on the evidence that Hydes had left the bar without the beers or the change, making the leap that because of this he must have known that the cash was bad.

However, the jury was not convinced and brought a swift end to a case, which has dragged on for more than 20 months.

Hydes was not questioned about the note until more than five months after the forged note and the details around how it was received were reported to Bodden Town police station. The court was never informed why there was such a long delay before police realised no action had been taken on the report. When asked to come to the police station, however, Hydes did so voluntarily and gave a full account of what had happened without an attorney.

The trial was set to begin on Monday but was adjourned for another day after the court heard that the police had misplaced the critical piece of evidence in the case – the forged note.