A man on trial for a home invasion yesterday pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of burglary.

While Umdae Woolridge had been facing charges of aggravated burglary and using a firearm to commit an indictable offence, Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons yesterday instructed the jury to find him not guilty of those charges. After the jury delivered the instructed verdict, Woolridge pleaded guilty to a single count of “simple” burglary.

Woolridge had offered a similar guilty plea at the start of the trial, but the plea was not accepted by prosecutors at that time.

A second defendant, Josef Smith, remains on trial for aggravated burglary, using a firearm to commit an indictable offence and discharging a firearm. All of the charges relate to a single incident on May 14 last year in which two men reportedly entered a North Shore Road, Hamilton Parish home wielding a firearm. The culprits allegedly stole two phones, but while in the home the firearm discharged.

A short while later Taariq Clarke arrived at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital with a gunshot wound to his left forearm.

While he initially denied being involved in the robbery, telling officers that he was shot while in the Vesey Street area, he later admitted his role in the crime and provided police with a witness statement.

Clarke subsequently pleaded guilty to aggravated burglary on the grounds that he had no knowledge that a firearm would be used in the robbery, but failed to withdraw once the weapon was produced.

He was later sentenced to 7½ years in prison for the offence.