More crime scene photos missing in gang trial
Published:Tuesday | February 1, 2022 | 12:11 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
Another crime-scene investigator testified on Monday in the Clansman-One Don Gang trial that photographs taken at a murder scene at the Spanish Town bus terminus in St Catherine following the murder of a bus driver are missing.
The bus driver, identified only as ‘Tesha Driver’ and ‘Tandy Day’, was reportedly shot and killed by members of the One Don Gang on February 6, 2018, while exiting the bus park with passengers.
A police witness, who was at the bus park when the driver was shot, told the court that before he was killed, the victim had reported that he was being extorted.
However, the police witness, who had processed the scene and had taken the photographs, told the Home Circuit Court on Monday that he has been searching “tirelessly” from last week for a compact disc (CD) with the photographs, which he had kept for himself.
“I made a thorough check of my office, spent all day Friday. This morning, I went back to the office and searched some areas that I thought I might have missed,” the officer said while explaining that he had also checked his old office, but came up empty-handed.
The officer also told the court that he had sought help from the Image Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF), but that personnel there were also unable to locate the photographs.
Uploaded images to JCF server
The police witness further explained that he had downloaded the photographs on to an external hard drive, which was then uploaded on to the JCF server, but that he was also unsuccessful in retrieving the photograph from that server.
However, when Chief Justice Bryan Sykes enquired if he had only made one copy of the CD, he explained that he had made three copies – one of which he kept personally, while the others were placed on the case file, which he submitted to his sub-officer to hand over the police division, which would then turn it over to the investigating officer.
Sykes, who simply responded with his customary “Oh”, then asked him if the photographs could not be found on the server.
The policeman indicated that he was not the person who had uploaded the photographs on to the server and that he did not have access to it.
When the judge asked if the server was damaged, the witness said, “I cannot speak to why they are unable to retrieve the photographs.”
According to the witness, he last saw the CDs when he made them.
The court was not informed whether the prosecution had a copy of the CD.
Another crime-scene officer recently testified that photographs taken at a murder scene on Chancery Street in northwest St Andrew in August 2017 could not be located.
The crime-scene investigator testified that the hard drive on which the photographs were downloaded had developed a problem and that the backup storage system had been reformatted.
The photographs were of the murder scene where a supermarket worker, Damaine Forrester, otherwise called ‘Doolie’, was reportedly gunned down by members of the One Don Gang because of his alleged association with the Tesha Miller-led faction of the Clansman Gang.
The officer who had processed the scene at Spanish Town bus park, however, testified that he had recovered several spent shell casings scattered along the roadway at the front of the bus park leading to the entrance. He said he also he found a damaged bullet on the floor of the front section of the bus, which had only one bullet hole in the right front door.
Thirty-three 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.
The One Don Gang is a splinter of the Clansman Gang.
The trial continues today.