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Almost two decades after they were charged, four men, one of whom was an ex-Defence Force special-forces soldier, have been freed of the 2005 murder of real estate agent Gerald Gopaul.

Initially, eight men went on trial in February 2020, before Justice Norton Jack and a 12-member jury at the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain.

Jury trials were halted as one of the measures to protect staff and other court users at the start of the covid19 pandemic in March 2020. The trial before Jack was one of the first casualties of the lockdown measure, although when restrictions were lifted, four men pleaded guilty to felony murder. Their sentencing was held in camera to protect the remaining accused men since their trial was yet to be completed, in preservation of the integrity of the trial.