'Al' Miller described as a man of integrity at trial

Retired president of the Airports Authority of Jamaica (AAJ) Earl Richards has described popular pastor the Reverend Merrick 'Al' Miller as a man of integrity.

Richards was giving character evidence in Miller's corruption trial, which resumed this morning in the Corporate Area Criminal Court.

Miller, who is the pastor of the St Andrew-based Fellowship Tabernacle Church, is on trial for attempting to pervert the course of justice after then fugitive Christopher 'Dudus' Coke was captured in his vehicle along Mandela Highway in St Catherine in 2010.

Richards, who acknowledged that he is a community pastor at Fellowship Tabernacle, said he did not find it unusual that Miller was attempting to assist someone who was not a member of his congregation.

"I regard it as the norm. His outlook is to help people and many people would come to him for help for many reasons," he testified.

"Was this extended to activities outside the law?" asked Miller's attorney Jacqueline Samuels-Brown as she led him through his evidence.

"No," Richards replied.

"Would you describe him as someone who would seek to undermine the law?" Samuels-Brown continued.

"On the contrary, based on the accounts of others he was always assisting law enforcement," Richards replied.

The former AAJ acknowledged that he was aware of the allegations by prosecutors that Miller was trying to assist then fugitive Christopher 'Dudus' Coke evade law enforcement.

"Based on the person you know and the reputation he enjoys is he (Miller) the kind of person likely to have done that?" Samuels-Brown questioned.

"No," Richards replied.