News that the home of Kevin Warner, a former defendant in the Kellon Hill case, has been firebombed prompted a call for calm yesterday.

Lawyer Mark Pettingill who represented another of the former defendants urged people upset over recent events at Supreme Court not to "take the law into their own hands."

As The Royal Gazette reported yesterday, a Molotov cocktail was allegedly thrown at 19-year-old Mr. Warner's family residence in Warwick in the early hours of Tuesday.

Mr. Warner had walked free from court on Monday. He was one of five teenagers originally on trial at Supreme Court, accused of murdering 18-year-old Mr. Hill as he left a beach party last August 9. He and the others Zharrin Simmons, 17, Gary Hollis, 16, Devon Hairston, 18, and Kellan Lewis, 17 denied that charge plus individual charges of weapons possession. Mr. Hollis and Mr. Hairston were alleged to have wielded helmets against Mr. Hill, Ms Simmons a screwdriver, Mr. Warner a walking cane and Lewis a knife.

All but Lewis were cleared of the charges by Judge Charles-Etta Simmons at the close of the prosecution case on the basis that they had no case to answer based on the evidence. Lewis remains on trial denying murder.

Speaking out yesterday after news of the alleged attack on Mr. Warner's home, Mr. Pettingill, who represented Ms Simmons, said: "I can't speak for all of them but it's certainly been upsetting for my client and her family when she heard about these types of reprisals. She's spent the better part of a year in jail and now been cleared of these charges.

"You have to bear in mind that the people that were right there [at the scene of the Kellon Hill incident] and witnessed these things did not come up to proof. It's understandable certainly for people to be upset and outraged, particularly family members, but violence begets violence.

"I'm a great fan of what Mahatma Gandhi said: 'an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind' so people taking the law into their own hands no matter how grief stricken or how upset or how disgruntled is unacceptable. We have a system in place. We have to allow it to work as best we can."

Asked if the four defendants who've been cleared of the charges will be offered Police protection in the wake of the incident, Assistant Police Commissioner Paul Wright replied: "For obvious reasons the Bermuda Police Service will not comment on the specifics of any enhanced security measures but we have already confirmed that the incident is under active investigation."