Keith Clarke murder trial resumes on Wednesday

The Keith Clarke murder trial is set to resume tomorrow after issues with one of the jurors delayed its resumption yesterday in the Home Circuit Court.

At the start of the Michaelmas Term, Justice Dale Palmer informed the court yesterday that one of the jurors was involved in an accident and would be available on Wednesday.

The defendants, Lance Corporals Greg Tingling, Odel Buckley, and Private Arnold Henry, who are are charged with Clarke’s murder, had their bails extended.

The 63-year-old accountant was shot 21 times inside his master bedroom at his Kirkland Close, St Andrew, home, on May 27, 2010, during a police-military operation to apprehend then-fugitive drug lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

Clarke’s widow and daughter previously testified that they witnessed Clarke being shot while climbing down from the closet with his back turned to the soldiers. Clarke’s daughter, Brittany, had insisted that he was shot at the window while coming down.

Both relatives had also insisted that they were home alone with Clarke when they heard sounds and thought criminals were breaking in on them.

However, a former government forensic analyst had testified that Keith Clarke was shot while inside the closet in the master bedroom, contradicting the testimony from his widow and daughter that it occurred while he was climbing down from atop the closet.

The expert witness also ruled out the idea that the witness was shot at the window. She had testified that she never saw any blood spatter on the window or the walls around the window. She also could not recall seeing a curtain and whether it had blood marks but was certain there was no bloodstain or spatter on the window.

The court was told that it was likely that Clarke was shot while positioned at the left side of the closet, based on the blood spatter captured in a photograph she was shown.

Meanwhile, the last witness, Brigadier Mahatma Williams, who commanded the unit linked to the death of the businessman, previously testified that based on an aerial video that captured the shooting on the grounds of the premises he believed that the soldiers “acted in “good faith”.

The aerial video, which was disclosed last month by the prosecution, was recorded by the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) from a helicopter.

Williams testified that after the incident, he and others reviewed the video, which showed that the soldiers came under attack from insurgents inside the Clarkes’ premises and that the soldiers had followed the requisite drills.

Williams also told the court that the JDF had relied on intelligence, which led them to the premises, and his team came under attack while heading to Kirkland Close.

A former legal officer, Colonel Patrick Cole, is to take the stand on Wednesday.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com