Ex-detective found no blood behind vehicle, jurors hear in cops’ murder trial

TESTIMONY from a former detective constable on Wednesday contradicted previous witness accounts in the Home Circuit Court murder trial of six policemen, specifically as it relates to the spot where the witness said one of three now-deceased men was shot.

The ex-detective was testifying from a remote location in the United States (US) via video link. He was allowed to testify remotely following a successful special measures application made by prosecutors, seeing that he is now in the US military and currently participating in a promotional programme. His participation in the programme prevents him from travelling at this time to give evidence in person.

He told the court that when he arrived at the scene in 2013 to photograph, collect, and package evidence that was found there, he did not observe any red substance resembling blood behind a blue Mitsubishi Outlander motor vehicle which was parked close to the intersection of Acadia Drive and Evans Avenue in St Andrew.

This revelation by the ex-detective appeared to poke a hole in the testimony that was given by a previous witness, who had testified that while looking down through his bedroom window that was three storeys high, he saw a man on the ground behind the Mitsubishi Outlander with cops standing over him. The witness claimed that he subsequently heard explosions and then the man who was on the ground was observed in a motionless state.

However, the ex-detective said that he did not observe any substance resembling blood behind the motor vehicle.

On trial for murder are Sergeant Simroy Mott, Corporal Donovan Fullerton, and constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose, and Richard Lynch. Corporal Fullerton is also charged with making a false statement to the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom).

The cops are being tried in relation to the January 12, 2013 shooting deaths of Matthew Lee, Mark Allen, and Ucliffe Dyer.

While being cross-examined by defence attorney Hugh Wildman, who is representing four of the six defendants, it was suggested to the ex-detective that a person looking through a window three storeys high in that specific apartment building on Acadia Drive would not be able to get a clear straight-on view of the motor vehicle. Wildman suggested that any observations from the apartment building would have been from an angular view.

The witness told Wildman that he was not sure where the entrance of the apartment complex was located and was unable to give an accurate estimation of the distance of the apartment building from where the motor vehicle was parked near the intersection. He also told the court that he did not enter the apartment building and that he did not traverse the entire length of Acadia Drive during his capturing and collecting of evidence.

“I took estimated measurements around the vehicle but not using a tape measure. I did a pace count and that is what I used to measure distance between the vehicle and evidence,” the witness said, also revealing that he did not measure the width of Acadia Drive.

He said that all spent casings which he was aware of, were collected from the scene.

The witness told the court that he was not the person who did swabbing for gunpowder residue (GPR) following the shooting. He said he was not trained in forensic medicine and explained that during his training to become a detective he was exposed to forensic science but was not a trained ballistics person.

“I am familiar with gunpowder residue. The duration of gunpowder residue is very limited, but it can be transferred from one surface to the next,” he said.

Wildman probed to see if the witness was able to tell the court what could cause GPR to not be present on a person after they discharged a firearm.

The witness said that if a person fires a gun it was highly likely that they could have GPR transferred to them. However, if he or she was moving while firing the weapon that could affect the placement of gunpowder residue, he said.

“Concentration of GPR can be determined by motion, weather, and type of garment,” the witness told the court.

He said he was first contacted roughly two months ago by an officer from Indecom about testifying in the case. He shared that he was contacted afterwards by lead prosecutor in the trial Kathy-Ann Pyke.

“The last time I had a conversation with Miss Pyke was sometime last week. I did tell her about my engagements in the United States… I did tell Miss Pyke that the timeline was inconvenient,” he explained.

The ex-detective said he did not recall speaking to anyone else from Indecom about his inability to testify in person.

Attorneys John Jacobs and Althea Grant-Coppin represent two of the six policemen.

Presiding judge, justice Sonia Bertram-Linton adjourned the case until Monday.