Sat | Apr 20, 2024

Uchence Wilson Gang Trial | Photos taken by FBI-trained expert shown in court

Published:Friday | April 26, 2019 | 12:00 AMNickoy Wilson/Gleaner Writer

Corroborating evidence given previously, a detective corporal yesterday testified to accompanying a former gangster-turned-witness and two other members of the police force to various sites where the Uchence Wilson Gang allegedly carried out robberies.

The forensic expert, who said she was trained by the United States-based Federal Bureau of Investigation, told the court that she took photographs of each site and used a global positioning system (GPS) device to record the location.

These photographs were shown to the court and the GPS coordinates for each read into evidence by the detective.

In earlier proceedings, two Crown witnesses, claiming to be former members of the gang, told the court that they accompanied gang members to and even participated in a spate of robberies, which spanned seven parishes.

The detective corporal, who was testifying in the trial for reputed gang leader Uchence Wilson and his 23 alleged cronies, said she travelled to Clarendon, St Catherine, and St Ann.

She is said to have visited these locations on August 9, 2017, on the instruction of her supervisor, to join members of the Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch of the police force to record the GPS locations of sites they would visit in relation to a case being pursued.

Wilson and his 23 alleged gang members are being tried for breaches of the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) Act 2014, commonly referred to as the anti-gang legislation, for crimes allegedly committed between 2015 and 2017.

They are also being tried for breaches of the Firearms Act.

nickoy.wilson@gleanerjm.com