A man accused of murder and dozens of gun crimes has been cleared of a stabbing on George Street.
Twenty-one-year-old Robert Belbin is due in court later this morning on the murder and unrelated weapons offences. But yesterday Judge James Walsh ruled there wasn’t enough evidence to prove Belbin stabbed Thomas Barnes in downtown St. John’s on May 21, 2022.
Barnes himself couldn’t say if it happened during a fight on George Street, or nearby Bates Hill where the melee ended.
The judge did, however, find Belbin guilty of assaulting Barnes, based on witness accounts and video showing him with Barnes’ gold chain.
Around the same time last year, Belbin was charged with a string of shootings in Paradise, Galway and St. John’s. And then in February of this year, he was charged with second-degree murder in the death of 22-year-old Seamus Secord in the Mayor Avenue area of St. John’s.
Belbin remains in custody pending his next appearance on the murder and weapons charges on October 11.
His sentencing on the assault conviction is set for November 1.
Barnes, the stabbing victim, is due in court the next day accused of aggravated assault in connection with a shooting in the Goulds in June of last year.
