Reiny Polanco Chalas has been cleared of the attempted murder of lawyer Samantha Wright after the Anguilla High Court found he had no case to answer.
Wright was shot in her car at her home in Cauls Bottom after returning home from a music festival in the early hours of 24 June, 2018.
Chalas was later arrested and charged with her attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm and illegal possession of ammunition in relation to the shooting.
He pleaded not guilty to all charges, and when the matter reached court, at the close of the case for the prosecution, his defence counsel made a submission that he had no case to answer.
Justice Ermin Moise upheld that submission and directed the jury to enter a verdict of not guilty on all charges.
He put his reasons in writing in a document which was dated 12 November, 2024, and published online on 16 December.
First impressions
According to the judge, at about 1.50am on 24 June, 2018, Samantha Wright was on the phone with a friend in her car when she approached her yard, which was fully fenced, and parked.
In her evidence, she told the court that she heard someone on the road and when she looked to the right through her open window she saw two people running towards her gate from the east.
There was a new lamp post on the corner of the gateway which was bright so she could see into the road, however she could not clearly see the person who was furthest away from her, she said.
She told the court that the person who was nearest to her, momentarily looked at her through a fence and a gap in the foliage and she looked at him for about a second or so.
Wright described this person as male, slim, not athletic, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, with brown skin, dark hair with “twigs, short dreads or plaits”, dark clothing and a bluish bandana with white detail on his face.
She said she could see his eyes, his forehead and his hair. His eyes were dark coloured and had a sleepy look about them and he had quite a pronounced long or tall forehead.
‘Don’t kill me’
Wright went on in her evidence to state that when she saw the two people coming towards her yard, the car engine was still running and she had her phone in her hand.
She quickly locked her car door and pressed the electric window closed before throwing herself across her car seat to the passenger side.
Wright stated that while lying down on the car seat she looked over her shoulder and saw the same man that she had described at the right-hand driver’s side of her car for a second.
“It was at that point she was shot. She was hearing gunshots and bullets. She was screaming. The bullets just kept coming, one after the other,” the judge wrote.
The victim told the court she was screaming: “Don’t kill me, please stop, I am a mother,” but the bullets just kept on coming, Moise said.
She eventually decided to play dead until her assailant ran away.
Making the report
In her evidence, Wright said she still had her phone which was then underneath her and she could hear her friend shouting to her, so she spoke to him before hanging up.
There was a lot of blood on her phone, but she kept as calm as she possibly could and dialled 911 where she spoke to a police officer and told him what happened and where she was.
“After that, she called Haslyn Patterson, who was then an inspector of police, and told him what happened. After that, she hung up and just laid quietly, telling herself to be calm and not panic,” the judge said.
When officers arrived, Wright was struggling with her breathing, bleeding and could not move her legs but was alert and calm.
She was taken to the hospital and eventually transported to the Cayman Islands for medical care, where on 2 July, 2018, she first accused Chalas of being the assailant.
As a lawyer, Wright had a prior professional relationship with Chalas as she had represented him in matters before the criminal courts in Anguilla between 2015 and 2017.
She told the court that in 2017 they had a conversation about representation, and they did not speak again until April 2018 when they had a slightly heated discussion in court.
At the time he appeared frustrated and aggressive and she told him he needed to behave himself and take responsibility for his actions, the judge wrote.
Arrest
On 2 July, 2018, Chalas voluntarily visited The Valley Police Station where he agreed to give a statement to the police and waived his right to have an attorney present.
He denied having any involvement with Wright’s shooting and said at the time he was at home in Stoney Ground where he lives with his parents.
In a police interview on the same date, he again denied any involvement with the incident and said he was at home and did not go out that night.
He stated that he does not attend the shows and that he dropped his girlfriend off to work at 6am on 24 June, 2018.
In giving his evidence in court, Special Police Constable Peter Boland who was on duty on the night of 23 June, 2018, said he saw Chalas and two others enter the music festival at 12.45am.
However, the judge, in his decision, said Boland’s evidence was “mired in inconsistencies and a lack of memory”.
Police Sergeant Godfrey John, who conducted the interview, said he did not personally speak with Chalas’ parents to ascertain whether his alibi was true.
Neither did he speak to his girlfriend or search his home, but he did confirm that Chalas did not have “twigs, locks or plaits” in his hair, the judge said.
No case to answer
In his decision, the judge wrote that the defence’s submission that Chalas has no case to answer is premised on the fact that for the Crown to succeed, Wright’s identification of the assailant is crucial.
If the jury is unable to rely on that evidence then there can be no conviction, Moise said.
“It cannot be said here that the quality of Ms Wright’s identification of Mr Chalas is good,” he wrote.
“Firstly, the incident took place at approximately 1.50am. It was dark, save for the light of a lamp post.
“Secondly, there was foliage along the fence through which Ms Wright claims she was able to see her assailant for one or two seconds.
“Thirdly, at the point where the assailant was standing near her vehicle, she was laying on the seat in the opposite direction of the window and glanced over her shoulder for merely a second.
“Fourthly, whoever shot Ms Wright was wearing a bandana across the bottom part of his face.
“And, fifthly, Ms Wright did not make this identification until she had left the island and was in the hospital in the Cayman Islands. That was eight days later.”
He said that many aspects of the description which Wright gave of her assailant did not fit the description of Chalas.
The judge added that the fact that Wright had known Chalas before is not “by and of itself” sufficient evidence against which the weaknesses in the identification could be cured.
