Vanessa Kirkland Murder Trial | Defence punches holes in witnesses' credibility
Published:Thursday | February 7, 2019 | 12:00 AMNickoy Wilson/Gleaner Writer
A seven-member jury was yesterday invited to question the credibility of several Crown witnesses who gave testimony in the trial of the three cops charged with the 2012 murder of 16-year-old Immaculate Conception High student Vanessa Kirkland.
As Peter Champagnie continued presenting his closing arguments at the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston, he said that a Crown witness who was shot during the gunfire told the court that the windows of the blue Suzuki Swift motor car were wound up. However, the attorney pointed out that photos of the incident scene taken show the windows of the vehicle actually being down.
He asked the jury, “Can you say the witness is independent?”
The attorney held similar views for another Crown witness who was treated as hostile because she refused to answer questions posed to her.
He opined that the witness’ evidence was rooted in fear. While giving testimony, the witness told the court that she was not certain of the accuracy of the statement because she had not read it over. But under re-examination by prosecutor Kathy-Ann Pyke, she said that her statement was accurate, save for two parts.
“How can you trust a witness who said she couldn’t speak to the accuracy, but in re-examination said she could speak to it but said two parts were incorrect? Truth is not something that changes depending on the questioner,” Champagnie asserted.
He later suggested that Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) investigator Leton Coleman and forensic analyst Kathrina Graham were not diligent in the execution of their duties.
Later in the proceedings, attorney-at-law Oswest Senior-Smith delivered his closing arguments.
He said that although the activities of Portmore are inextricably linked with what happened along Norman Lane on March 20, 2012, the prosecution neglected to mention them in its opening address.
‘Timeline off’
He said the Crown’s first witness, who testified to being a passenger in the blue Suzuki Swift motor car, self-destructed. The witness is said to have told the court that they drove to Portia Simpson Miller Square to retrieve Kirkland and the other females before 8 o’clock then headed back to Norman Lane.
Senior-Smith said given that the shooting happened around 9:30 p.m., the “timeline is totally off”.
Meanwhile, presiding judge, Justice Carol Lawrence-Beswick, started her summation of the evidence. She instructed the jury to not allow sympathy for either the cops on trial or for the death of Kirkland and its effects on her family to sway them in arriving at their verdict.
It is alleged that on March 20, 2012, at around 9:30 p.m., constables Andrewain Smith, Durvin Hayles, and Anna-Kay Bailey drove on to Norman Lane in St Andrew, where they opened fire on a blue Suzuki Swift motor car. Kirkland, who was in the vehicle, was shot and killed.
The cops have maintained that they acted in self-defence.