A policeman "recalling" and "remembering" who had robbed him at gunpoint led to the acquittal of the man who was convicted of the crime.

Dwayne Frater, bus conductor, of a Spanish Town Road address, Kingston, who was serving a nine-year-prison sentence for illegal possession of firearm, housebreaking and larceny was freed by the Court of Appeal.

Frater was convicted in October 2006 and was in prison awaiting the outcome of his appeal.

A policeman who was the complainant in the case had testified that in July 2004, Frater brandished a gun and forced him to let him into his house. He said he and his uncle were robbed of $4,000 and a mobile phone.

He said while Frater was in the house, another man came inside and searched the house. The policeman said under cross-examination that from the time Frater came into the house to the time when both men ran away from the premises was about ten to 15 minutes.

On August 2, 2004, the policeman was on a bus and when the conductor began collecting fares he said he remembered he had seen the conductor somewhere. He said that when he 'recalled, he could remember' that the conductor was the man who had robbed him. He came off the bus and made a report at the Spanish Town police station.

The policeman said that on August 6, 2004 he was at the police station when Frater was taken there. He identified him as the person who had robbed him at gunpoint.

Attorney-at-law, Everton Bird, who represented Frater argued on appeal that the judge was wrong in reaching the conclusion that the identification of the accused was unassailable. Bird said the evidence was poor and unacceptable. He said the verdict was flawed because the judge accepted witnesses for the prosecution as being truthful without examining their credibility

The Court of Appeal said it was not satisfied about the circumstances under which the identification took place on the bus because the policeman's "recalling and remembering" demonstrated that he was in doubt.