At St. Thomas woman accused of killing her husband, was freed by the Circuit Court yesterday (Dec 20) due to lack of sufficient evidence.

47-year-old Joyce Leslie of Prospect in the parish, had been charged with murder, following the disappearance of her husband, Andrew Leslie, a Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) Private, 10 years ago.

The prosecution had relied on a testimony from alleged Obeaman, Daniel West that Mrs. Leslie confessed to the murder.

West reportedly claimed that during a visit, Mrs. Leslie signed a statement purporting that she paid a man $30,000 to kill her husband.

Shortly after giving his testimony in the parish court, West died.

When the matter was called up for trial, the alleged original confession statement, signed by Mrs. Leslie, could not be found.

A scanned copy of the document was tendered into court.

However, the document reportedly only indicated that Mrs. Leslie paid a man $30,000 with no mention of what the payment was for.

The court was told, that at the time of Mr. Leslie’s disappearance, the couple had been receiving counselling.

Mrs. Leslie denied knowledge of anything related to her husband’s disappearance, in October 2008.

Defense attorney Hensley Williams asked the jury to free his client, because the evidence presented by the prosecution, was unreliable.

Williams also chastised the police for not taking the necessary steps to locate the missing JDF soldier.

The jury retired for about an hour, and returned with a not guilty verdict.