Witness in MOCA raid case not transported

Christopher Thomas, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:THE CASE against three St James men who were arrested last August on money-laundering charges by the Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Task Force (MOCA), hit a snag yesterday due to the absence of a key prosecution witness.

Fifty-one-year-old building contractor Robert Dunbar, of Hatfield Meadows in Montego Bay; 39-year-old businessman Louis Smith of Porto Bello; and 44-year-old Delroy Gayle of Bogue Village, had their bails extended to July 31, when they appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday. It was revealed in court that the prosecution's intended main witness - who is serving a prison sentence in the United States for drug-related offences - had not been transported to Jamaica.

Dunbar, Gayle and Smith were taken into custody on August 30, 2013, following a raid of their premises by MOCA officers, and were formally charged on Sunday, September 1. It is alleged that the prosecution's intended witness had given a statement which fingered the trio as participants in an international drug syndicate.

"What is the position with this case?" presiding magistrate Carolyn Tai asked, in seeking an update on the case yesterday.

"We are asking for another date to secure the attendance of the main witness. We are requesting another date for two months from now," clerk of the court Orrett Brown answered.

However, this did not sit well with Dunbar's lawyer, Oswest Senior-Smith, who complained that there was no indication as to where the case was going.

"My learned friend (Brown) is saying that the Crown is not ready ... the main witness in this matter is one who is serving his sentence of 27 years in the USA, and the case is now in a state that we do not know what is happening," said attorney Senior-Smith.