Witness: I might be killed for testifying against gang
Published:Wednesday | October 27, 2021 | 3:55 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The ex-gangster who is one of the prosecution’s main witnesses in the Clansman-One Don Gang trial said on Tuesday that the only benefit he would get from testifying against his alleged ex-cronies is a spot in a graveyard.
The witness, who was on his second day of cross-examination, spent most of the time staving off suggestions from defence counsel that he had benefited from testifying against reputed leader Andre Bryan and his 32 accomplices.
The lawyers sought to establish that the witness, who was charged with being part of a criminal organisation, had agreed to testify in exchange for his freedom.
The businessman, who repeatedly rejected the suggestions, insisted that he gave a statement to the police of his own free will and did not want anything from “Government or anybody”.
But attorney-at-law Esther Reid, who is representing Tareek James, took the witness to task over his claim.
“What’s the benefit? You have to tell me,” she pressed, when he tried to evade answering the questions directly.
“Are you looking at prison time?” she asked.
“No,” answered the witness, who had previously told the court that a charge against him of being a part of a criminal organisation was dismissed in 2020.
The lawyer then asked him if he did not consider it a benefit that that he had escaped penalty after participating in serious crimes such as murder, arson, and extortion.
“You want me to tell you the honest truth. The only thing I am benefiting with is a spot in a graveyard,” replied the witness, who claimed that he had been forced into the gang by Bryan, whose alias is ‘Blackman’.
Earlier in the morning session, the witness, while responding to questions from Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, said, “I know that it is the possibility that I’ll be murdered after this.”
The witness, who admitted to being a top-tier member of the gang, said he was aware that his family, including his children, would always be in danger because of his testimony.
The self-confessed gangster, who said he was the gang’s banker and Bryan’s personal driver, testified that he made up his mind to give evidence after he allegedly overheard some of the members planning to murder a policewoman while they were in a jail cell at the Supreme Court.
However, faced with more questions from Reid as to why he had not come forward earlier, the witness said he did not know who to talk to and that the gang had a lot of powerful people, including entertainers and other influencers.
“I was scared to,” he added, while denying the suggestion that he was a complacent member of the gang.
The lawyers also ripped into apparent inconsistencies and contradictions between the witness’ statement and testimony.
The witness, who managed to maintain his composure despite sustained suggestions that he was being untruthful, insisted that he was not lying.
The witness blamed nervousness for his several inconsistencies.
“I was kind of scared of these people and had hold back on the statement,” he said, making reference to alleged members of the gang.
During cross-examination Tuesday, the witness rejected suggestions from the lawyer that he had fabricated the accounts of the gang activities and that he was making up stories as he went along.
He also denied suggestions that he did not know the defendants and had never gone on any mission with them.
Bryan and 32 other alleged gang members are being tried on an indictment with 25 counts under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organizations) Act and the Firearms Act, to which they have all pleaded not guilty.
The witness will continue to undergo cross-examination when the trial resumes today.