After more than five hours of careful deliberation, a nine-member criminal jury has delivered a split verdict in one of Antigua and Barbuda’s high-profile 2020 homicide cases, finding defendant Saleim Harrigan guilty of the murder of senior customs official Nigel Christian. Co-defendants Wayne Thomas and Lasean Bully, who stood trial alongside Harrigan on the same murder charge, have been cleared of all wrongdoing in connection to the killing. The jury returned to the courtroom of Justice Rajiv Persaud shortly after 7 p.m. to announce their final decision, a conclusion that came after jurors began their closed-door deliberations around 2 p.m. earlier that day. Approximately four hours into deliberations, the panel notified the court that they required additional time to reach a consensus on each defendant before finalizing their verdicts. The case traces its origins back to July 10, 2020, the day Christian was abducted at gunpoint from his private residence in the McKinnons neighborhood of Antigua. Later that same day, search teams located the customs officer’s lifeless body on an unimproved dirt road in the Thibou’s district of the island. With the guilty verdict now in place, Harrigan is currently being held in custody as he awaits his formal sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled by the court. While Thomas was acquitted of the murder charge alongside Bully, he will remain in custody. Justice Persaud ordered Thomas remanded on an unrelated legal matter that is still pending before the Antiguan judicial system.
Harrigan Found Guilty in Nigel Christian Murder; Two Co-Accused Acquitted
