A gym instructor has been freed in the Gun Court of charges of wounding and illegal possession of firearm.

Steven Dixon, 28, of a Kingston address, was freed after Justice Lennox Campbell upheld submissions from defence lawyers, Tom Tavares-Finson and Peter Champagnie, that Dixon was not part of a common design to shoot and injure the complainant.

Dixon was arrested and charged in March last year, arising from an incident on January 10, 2007 in which another gym instructor was shot and injured in New Kingston.

Crown's case

The Crown's case was that Dixon and the complainant had an argument and both men began to fight.

During the fight, a man, who had accom-panied Dixon to the area, pulled a firearm and shot the complainant in the chest.

In his defence, Dixon told the Gun Court he went to speak to the complainant about problems involving other gym members. He said he did not know the man had a firearm and did not tell him to shoot the complainant.