Acquittal plea for Blackman as defence counter star witnesses

While labelling the prosecution’s two main witnesses as “bad” and “unreliable” attestors, the lead attorney for reputed Clansman-One Don Gang leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan asked the judge on Tuesday to reject the self-confessed ex-gangsters’ evidence and acquit his client.

Senior counsel Lloyd McFarlane stressed that the former gangsters’ evidence should not be relied on, as no independent evidence was presented to corroborate their claims about his client.

McFarlane said that the court could not trust the utterances of the duo, noting that even the prosecution’s own evidence, the secretly recorded voice conversation of the alleged gangsters, had contradicted one of the witnesses’ testimonies.

The two witnesses had identified themselves as drivers for Blackman, with one doubling as the gang’s banker.

The other, who said he was later promoted to second-in-command and was given a community don title, also claimed that he was Bryan’s trusted confidant.

But McFarlane, during his closing address in the Home Circuit Court, argued that it was dangerous to accept their testimony without independent evidence.

The attorney noted that his client was initially charged on the now-reduced 25-count indictment, but has since been found not guilty on eight counts.

That, he emphasised, was partly linked to the prosecution’s failure to provide independent evidence to corroborate testimony that was adduced from the two main witnesses in respect to the failed charges.

However, McFarlane submitted on Tuesday that the prosecution has still not satisfied the court with corroborating evidence in respect of the nine remaining counts.

He highlighted that the Crown has missed the mark on all the counts.

Among those he said are the August 2018 murder of Damaine ‘Doolie’ Forrester at Chancery Street in St Andrew and the double murder and arson in New Nursery, Fisheries, in St Catherine, in September 2018.

Both witnesses had led evidence that Bryan had ordered and planned Forrester’s murder and that the gangsters were sent three times by Blackman to kill the man before they succeeded.

Forrester was reportedly marked for death because of his affiliation with a rival faction of the Clansman Gang.

But McFarlane said the Crown did not submit any independent evidence to support the ex-gangsters’ claim that his client had planned the murder.

The attorney also asserted that the testimony of both was contradictory: one said that both had travelled in the same car while the other claimed he was in a separate car.

In relation to the murder-arson, the former don had testified that Blackman was among two groups of gangsters who went to “shell down” Fisheries on the night in question and that Blackman took a gun from his bodyguard, defendant Tareek James, and shot the man, while James shot the woman.

The other witness had also testified that he was present when the men were planning the attack but that he did not go to the community, as he was sent to scout the road.

But again, McFarlane argued that the Crown had failed to provide any evidence to substantiate the witness’ claim that Bryan was present or that he had shot and killed anyone.

Apart from the lack of corroborating evidence, McFarlane said the witness has also demonstrated that their evidence must not be trusted.

He pointed to the alleged don’s evidence that Blackman had instructed him to collect $150,000 from one of their alleged cronies to purchase a gun.

However, the attorney pointed out that in one of the secret voice recordings which was played at the trial, a man identified as City Puss was heard giving instructions to the witness about the money and how much he should take for himself.

City Puss was identified during the trial as defendant Jason Brown, the gang’s deputy commander.

“This is an illustration of why it is dangerous to rely on the cowardly don, the only don who never carried a gun,” McFarlane said.

Furthermore, he pointed out that not only did the evidence not support the witness’ assertion, but it went further to contradict the prosecution’s witness.

The attorney, during his submission, also submitted that there were instances in which his client was charged with conspiracy to murder but no evidence was presented to prove same.

In one of the cases, he said all the witness said was that his client had sent him to Waterloo to pick up the guns.

But again, he said not only is that testimony supported by any independent evidence but is “clearly insufficient” to establish conspiracy.

The defence lawyers will continue their closing arguments when the trial resumes today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com