Kyle Williams walks from prison after appeal as Buff Point shooting conviction overturned

A jury convicted Kyle Williams over the shooting of Jordan Langley at Buff Point on the Central Coast in 2016. A judge sentenced him to seven years for the crime. But in a sensational twist, Mr Williams is now a free man.

Kyle Williams has had a conviction for shooting a man at Buff Point in 2016 quashed. Picture: Facebook

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The conviction of a San Remo man over a shooting in Tirriki Close, Buff Point in 2016 has been quashed on appeal after a judge found the jury had erred when handing down a guilty verdict.

Kyle Williams, now 23, has walked from prison, after the NSW Supreme Court of Criminal Appeal found the evidence of an independent witness who had identified him as the shooter was not without reasonable doubt.

That independent witness was a neighbour who testified during the trial

The Court of Criminal Appeal heard that Mr Williams has long protested his innocence and claimed during his original trial that his friend Brandan Randall was responsible for shooting Jordan Langley through the chest on July 2, 2016.

Kyle Williams pictured in 2016. Picture: Facebook

But after a 17-day deliberation, a jury found him guilty of firing a firearm in or near a public place, and discharging a firearm with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm.

He was sentenced to a total period of imprisonment of 7 years and 6 months with a non-parole period of 3 years and 6 months.

Nine months later, on March 15, a judge found “the evidence left open a reasonable doubt that (the neighbour) was correct in her identification”.

“When challenged in cross-examination (the neighbour) became more adamant that she had correctly identified the appellant. He then had shoulder length hair, but she then changed her description of the gunman from having short hair, to having a crew cut and insisting: ‘If I see him, I know him’,” wrote Justice Monika Schmidt.

Tirriki Close at Buff Point where the shooting took place.

“The difficulty with this evidence was not only that on the night of the shooting, the appellant had shoulder length hair, but that Mr Randall’s hair was cut short.”

Prior to the shooting, Mr Williams, a former Northlakes High student, had been involved in a series of confrontations and skirmishes with another man after he fought with the man’s girlfriend and her mother at McDonald’s Lake Haven.

A tit for tat series of text messages, vandalism incidents and a war of words ensued, culminating in a drive-by shooting at Emu Drive, San Remo which Mr Williams was also charged over and found not guilty.

A car of men arrived at Mr Williams’ home on the night of July 2, 2016, a shot was fired into the back of this vehicle.

Then, when the occupants got out of the car, another shot was fired by an unknown gunman, from a distance of 5-10 metres.

The bullet went through Jordan Langley’s chest and exited through his back.

The court heard that Mr Williams’ defence case was that Brandan Randall fired the gun in relation to all counts and that the Crown could not prove beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant was the person who fired the gun in relation to each count. His partner Abigail Voce testified that she saw Mr Randall shoot the gun. His brother, Jye Williams, testified he saw Mr Randall holding the gun and placing it inside the front of his pants.