After seven hours of deliberation, a Supreme Court jury deadlocked on whether a homeless man assaulted a taxi driver but cleared the man on the charge of stealing the taxi.

Joseph Moniz Lima, 40, denies attacking Rudolph Fubler and taking his taxi on May 31, 2004.

Sentencing for a co-accused, Anthony Alexander Outerbridge - who pleaded guilty on Monday - was delayed until today. Outerbridge and Lima were beaten up by neighbourhood youths on Tribe Road #5, off Ord Road, Paget several hours after Mr. Fubler says he was robbed in Devonshire Bay.

Lima claimed he was offered a chance “to get high” by a friend and even questioned him on whether he had a licence to drive a taxi. Some time later he says Outerbridge pulled into Tribe Road #5 and he was pulled from the taxi. The pair had inadvertently driven into Mr. Fubler's neighbourhood to find drugs.

Police found the pair stripped naked, broken and bleeding after being summoned. On the stand, Lima accused Mr. Fubler of taking part in the beating and only called a halt to it once it “got out of hand”.

Lima's lawyer, Peter Farge said a criminal investigation into the comprehensive beating which left Lima in hospital for two months, was now in the works.

“We have something in the works,” Mr. Farge said. “I have been given some instructions, but I will have to take more. We will have to appear in court in April, but whether they pursue the second count is a matter for the DPP. After seven hours of deliberation the jury had spoken,” he said.

But his client was “very disappointed” to have not been cleared of the charges and was “very upset about it”.

When Rudolph Fubler was asked how he would feel if Lima was found not guilty, he said he would “leave it to the law”.

Crown counsel was Shakira Dill prosecuted in the four day trial. Puisne Judge Charles-etta Simmons immediately discharged the jury and ordered Lima to reappear in court on April 1. Lima was remanded back to Westgate Correctional Facility. During the seven hours, the jury sent several written questions to Mrs. Justice Simmons for clarification.

And after legal arguments in respect of the robbery charge, Director of the Department of Public Prosecutions, Vignette Graham Allen, Wednesday changed the indictment half-way through the trial, saying the jury could find Lima guilty of an alternative charge of knowingly getting into a stolen vehicle, if only part of the robbery charge had been proven.

In his closing arguments, Mr. Farge said in order for jurors to find Lima guilty of robbery “there must be proof beyond reasonable doubt that he intended to permanently deprive Mr. Fubler of his taxi”.

Mr. Farge claimed there was no evidence of this intent as the taxi was found hours later in the Tribe Road No. Five area.

“In the statement by Mr. Fubler, he said (his taxi) was completely ransacked with everything pulled out all over the place. He said he had never seen anything like it.”

In a dramatic move, Mr. Farge pointed to Police photographs of the taxi and said: “But you have seen the inside. It is a matter for you if it was completely ransacked. It goes against the credibility of Mr. Fubler.”

He said his client was “set upon and was telling the truth. He was beaten up. The son dragged him from the car. He was beat up by the father (Rudolph Fubler) with a metal pipe”.

On Tuesday, Mr. Fubler testified that he did not “know how (Lima) got the injuries”.

It was unusual that the Police took no photographs of the crime scene, in Devonshire Bay, where the Crown alleged the robbery took place, he said. And the only photographs the jury were shown were at the area where Lima said he was attacked.

Mrs. Justice Simmons said there were “critical omissions” in Mr. Fubler's testimony. When Mr. Fubler said he got to the scene at Ord Road, young men told him the man who took his taxi was right there.

“Therefore, there is a certain danger that Mr. Fubler made his identification under the result of influence,” she said.

And there was “clearly a conflict about the lighting” she said as Fubler testified that the Tribe Road No. Five area was “all lit up” but the first Policeman on the scene said the area was poorly lit and he needed to use a flashlight in order to find Lima.

“The defendant says it's not him,” Mrs. Justice Simmons said. “Vigilante justice went wrong from mistaken identity”.

None of Lima's fingerprints were found in the taxi.