Phone, SIM card admitted into evidence
Published:Friday | September 27, 2019 | 12:17 AMTamara Bailey/Gleaner Writer
Porus, Manchester:
A phone and SIM card seized during the raid of the house occupied by one of eight accused in the multimillion-dollar Manchester Municipal Corporation fraud trial were yesterday admitted into evidence despite previous concerns raised by the defence.
The items were seized at the home of former secretary manager and director of finance at the then Manchester Parish Council David Harris.
A forensic examiner, who was attached to the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency (MOCA) at the time of the raid, said that further analysis of a device revealed conversations between former Deputy Superintendent of Roads and Works Sanja Elliott and one Kendale Roberts.
Attorney Samoi Campbell raised an objection at the mention of Roberts’ name without any foundation being laid against him.
However, presiding Judge Ann-Marie Grainger stated that there was nothing wrong as just a mention of the name did not reveal that the same person before the court was the same person from the phone conversation.
As the witness proceeded to continue his testimony, he was cautioned against divulging the content of the conversations.
The witness was instructed to power on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 device that had been previously admitted into evidence after confirmation of the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number.
However, he could not retrieve WhatsApp messages as the phone’s date and time were incorrect.
When the witness asked to change the date and time, the defence stated that it was not 2016 – the time the first analysis would have been done – and that the date should not be changed to the current date.
“In order for the messages to be retrieved, the phone date and time would have to be adjusted to the date and time currently. By doing so, it can have an adverse effect on the messages as the account for the WhatsApp conversation is linked to a particular number ... . WhatsApp does not allow the same number to be added to two devices,” the witness said.
A request had been made by the defence for the information retrieved from the devices. However, due to the unavailability of an appropriate storage device, the request could not be met immediately.
Grainger later suggested that two USB devices be made available for the transfer of the binary information to be presented to defence today.
The suggestion was accepted.
The witness is due to reappear for cross examination on Wednesday, October 2.
Meanwhile, a representative from a fourth financial institution took the stand, having received a formal order in 2016 for information concerning Elliott and his mother, Mrytle Elliott, who is also charged in the matter.
The witness said she facilitated the retrieval of the documents, including deposit slips, statements of accounts, withdrawal slips, credit card statements, and customer information in relation to the two.
As the witness was questioned, she divulged information from a document that revealed a fixed-term deposit account belonging to Elliott with a balance as at 2016 of just over $10 million.
The matter continues in the Manchester Parish Court tomorrow.