No evidence of phone data tampering – witness
Published:Tuesday | May 3, 2022 | 12:10 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
An expert witness in the Clansman-One Don Gang trial testified on Monday that he had not detected any evidence of tampering with the data stored on three phones, including secretly recorded conversations of defendants.
That testimony could be key to the fate of Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan and 32 other alleged gang members who are being tried on an indictment with 25 counts under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organizations) Act and the Firearms Act.
The secret recordings were reportedly made by a prosecution star witness and former top-tier gangster on three cellular phones which have been handed over to the police.
Following the trial’s resumption at the Home Circuit Court on Monday after a seven-week break, a digital forensic examiner who had examined the data gave details about an extraction report that he had prepared.
The police corporal, who is assigned at the Communication Forensic and Cybercrime Division, said during his testimony that no changes were made to the phones’ data.
When asked by the prosecutor how he was able to determine whether the data was altered, the corporal said he had conducted a comparative analysis.
However, the expert witness, who started examining the devices on February 7, indicated that he was unable to determine whether the applications on the devices were downloaded by the user.
The prosecution witness who had recorded the secret conversations had previously testified that he had downloaded a call-recording application.
During the witness’ presentation on the report, which was showcased on the videoconferencing monitor, it was revealed that the phone numbers of several alleged gang members were stored in the contact logs of one of the phones designated the ‘Vonino’.
Among the contacts and their respective numbers that were detailed by the witness were ‘Jermaine (Soldier) and ‘City’.
The witness, during his evidence, had made several references to Jermaine, whom he identified as Jermaine Robinson, a former Jamaica Defence Force soldier, as well as City Puss, whom he said was the gang’s deputy leader and who was later identified as defendant Jason Brown.
Meanwhile, defence attorney Lloyd McFarlane, who is representing Blackman, complained on Monday about the witness going over evidence that he had earlier given in relation to the recordings.
However, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes told the lawyer that the exercise was important to show that the recordings were not “a product of the witness’ machination” and “that the calls were, in fact, made”.
The judge said that it might have been understandable that persons could question whether the prosecution witness made the calls and recorded himself.
The expert witness will continue his testimony today.
A witness from Flow is also expected to give evidence.
The One Don Gang is a breakaway faction of the Clansman Gang.