Gang investigator branded a liar

A retired inspector and gang investigator who had testified that an alleged member of the Clansman-One Don Gang had offered him $100,000 to free reputed gang leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan was on Monday labelled a liar by the alleged don’s lead counsel.

“Isn’t it fair to say that the only reason we should not describe you as a lying policeman is that you are no longer a policeman?” Lloyd McFarlane rhetorically asked the police witness at the end of his cross-examination in which he had accused the witness several times of false testimony.

The retired inspector last week told the court that the lone female defendant, Stephanie ‘Mumma’ Christie, had visited him at the Spanish Town Police Station in September 2017 while he was interviewing Bryan and tried to bribe him, claiming she was Blackman’s companion. The ex-cop said that he told her he wanted two rifles instead.

The officer also told the court that he had released Blackman that same day after exchanging numbers with Christie and deciding that he was going to use her as an inside source in the gang, but told Blackman Christie was the reason why he was being sent home.

The court heard that Blackman was taken in for questioning about the circulation of extortion-related voice notes in Spanish Town, St Catherine, and an upsurge in murders.

However, during cross-examination, the retired inspector admitted that Blackman was not in custody on the day in question and that the police had no intention of detaining him.

“In any event, he would have been released,” the witness said, when McFarlane told him that he had no basis for holding Bryan.

“So why you didn’t tell that to Mumma when she was asking you?” the attorney asked.

“Because I want to get information from her,” he replied.

“Oh, so you just lie to her. You have been lying a lot up there,” McFarlane said,

The witness, in his defence, said he was not lying but was using an “unconventional method” to gather intelligence.

The attorney then asked him if his “bargaining chip” was to hold on to Bryan until he got the promised guns, but the witness disagreed.

“What were you going to use then as leverage?” McFarlane asked.

“You were going to let him go and go and come back with two guns? Him like you?” he continued.

McFarlane also quizzed the witness about inconsistencies in his statement and testimony in relation to the date he had given for his second meeting with Bryan and claims made about discussions he had with the alleged gang leader about surrendering illegal weapons.

The witness, who asked to refresh his memory, however, indicated that he had met with Bryan many times to discuss the handover of rifles.

He also agreed that it was on the second encounter with Bryan in September 2017 that he spoke with Christie.

However, when pressed further by McFarlane if it was not in January 2017 that he had spoken with Bryan and asked him to hand over two rifles, the witness told the court that he had spoken to Bryan both in January and September, but it was in relation to different sets of guns.

The witness explained that he had spoken to Bryan in both January and September about the firearms, but said that an arrangement was made with Christie in September to get the firearms.

When asked if he had written a statement about the arrangement, the witness said he mentioned it in one of his statements but could not recall which one.

“You know why? Because you didn’t, because you, retired detective inspector, you are lying,” McFarlane said.

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.

The police witness will continue to face more cross-examination today.