Death Squad Trial | Main witness never mentioned shooter was constable
Published:Wednesday | February 15, 2017 | 12:00 AMLivern Barrett
The main prosecution witness in the so-called 'police death squad' trial yesterday admitted that when he was questioned by investigators a day after he was shot and injured in 2010, he never mentioned that Constable Collis Brown was the shooter.
The admission came after the Clarendon man was confronted during cross-examination in the Home Circuit Court with a statement he signed and gave detectives a day after the shooting.
Brown, who is also known as 'Chucky', and Constable Roan Morrison are on trial for murder and wounding with intent. They were arrested and charged by the Independent Commission of Investigations following an incident in May Pen, Clarendon, on February 13, 2010 in which Phaebian Dinnal was shot and killed and another man suffered gunshot wounds.
Shot above left breast
On Monday, the witness testified that Brown used an M-16 rifle to shoot him above the left breast from about a foot away. He also claimed that the policeman came out of the car and placed his foot on his head.
However, Brown's lead attorney, Norman Godfrey, used the statement given to police investigators on February 14, 2010 to challenge this account.
"Me could a see clearly 'cause sun did a shine, but only reason me never see the police face is because the car tint up and the glass half mast [half way up]," Godfrey read from the statement.
"You agree that it's not in your statement that Constable Brown held the gun a foot away from your chest and shot?" the attorney questioned.
"Yes, Sir," the witness replied.
"You agree that nowhere in your statement you said you saw Constable Brown?" Godfrey pressed.
"Because me 'fraid him come kill me, Sir," the witness replied.
He also acknowledged that he did not mention in the statement that Brown placed his foot on his head as he laid on the ground wounded.
The Clarendon man told the court that at the time of the incident, he was 17 years old and on his sick bed, so he just told investigators "some things fi mek dem move on".
He will continue giving evidence tomorrow.