A third man charged in connection with a home invasion in which one culprit was shot was found guilty in Supreme Court yesterday.

Josef Smith, 27, was convicted of aggravated burglary and the unlawful discharge of a firearm during an incident on May 14 last year.

However, on the direction of Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons, the jury delivered a not guilty verdict to a charge of using a firearm to commit an indictable offence.

A visibly upset Smith stood and turned to leave the court after the verdict was read, but was ordered to return to his seat by the judge, who warned him that such behaviour could be viewed as contempt of court.

Mrs Justice Simmons ordered a social inquiry report on Smith and remanded him into custody until a sentencing date could be set.

During the trial, the court heard that on the evening of May 14, two men wearing full-face helmets entered a home on North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish. One was wielding what appeared to be a firearm.

The men took two cellphones from the three people inside the house, but as they went to leave the firearm discharged.

Police later found a trail of blood leading out of the house.

A short time later, Umdae Woolridge brought Taariq Clarke, who had suffered a gunshot wound to his left forearm, to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

Clarke initially told officers he had been shot while travelling along Vesey Street but later confessed that he had been injured while involved in the armed robbery.

He pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated burglary and using a firearm to commit an indictable offence on the basis that he was not aware a firearm was going to be used, but failed to withdraw when it was produced.

He was sentenced to 7½ years in prison, with the court taking into account his guilty plea and willingness to give a statement about the actions of himself and his accomplices.

Smith and Woolridge denied the charges at their Supreme Court trial, during which prosecutors alleged that Smith was the second man directly involved in the robbery while Woolridge masterminded the plot.

Woolridge pleaded guilty to a count of “simple” burglary last week after Mrs Justice Simmons ordered the jury to acquit him of the more serious charges.

Smith was in court in April 2008 on firearms charges. While he admitted possessing an air pistol, charges of illegal gun possession were dropped after a firearms expert deemed the pistol was not illegal. On that occasion he was sentenced to 21 months in prison for importing cannabis resin, having been caught at the airport with 411 grams of the drug hidden in his sneakers in 2007.

He received an additional 30 days for possessing 16g of cannabis found at his home.

Smith was later accused of breaking into a home on Long Ridge Pass, Devonshire, in January 2012 with intent to inflict actual bodily harm. Prosecutors alleged he had an imitation firearm. The matter went to trial in 2013, but Mrs Justice Simmons ordered the jury to find him not guilty after the complainant refused to testify and three officers were unable to give evidence.

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