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Chilling account of murder
Crown gives graphic outline of witness statement against cops in kidnap case
BY Paul Henry, Observer staff reporter henryp@jamaicaobserver.com
Friday, June 12, 2009
The court yesterday heard chilling details regarding the 2004 murder of Kemar Walters and Oliver Duncan and the plot to conceal the deed, during failed bail applications for the three cops now implicated in the killings.
Prosecutor Dirk Harrison said a police witness will give evidence that Corporal Paul Edwards, 34, confessed to murdering Duncan, who, along with Walters, was alleged to be a major player in a multi-million dollar car-stealing ring involving policemen.
Harrison said also that the witness is prepared to testify that Assistant Superintendent Victor Barrett, 38, who is charged with accessory to murder after the fact, "coerced" him into writing and signing to a false statement, which he (Barrett) dictated, after telling him and the other implicated cops not to repeat the events of December 23, 2004, when the men were abducted and killed.
The third accused is Corporal Louie Lynch, 33, who is charged with murder. The three cops, who were arrested last week Wednesday, were assigned to the Organised Crime Investigation Division (OCID). Charges are pending against a fourth cop, Corporal Peter Silvera, who is believed to be on the run.
Yesterday, Justice Marva McIntosh denied the accused men bail on Harrison's submission that they may interfere with the investigation and the witness, and that more time was needed to collect an outstanding statement.
The Crown was given until next week Thursday, by which time McIntosh will entertain another bail application in the Home Circuit Court, where the men's case was yesterday heard, having been transferred from the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court.
Defence counsel Churchill Neita, QC, had said during the failed bail attempt that there was nothing to indicate that his clients would interfere with the witness or the investigation.
Walters and Duncan were reportedly handcuffed and abducted by three armed men, one of whom was wearing a police vest, from the Washington Plaza on Washington Boulevard in St Andrew. Their bodies were never found.
Yesterday, Harrison told a silent courtroom packed with relatives of the accused men and members of the constabulary that the witness, in his statement, said that Edwards, Lynch and Silvera left the plaza in a vehicle with Walters and Duncan - leaving behind himself and a Corporal Lawrence Clayton with the Honda CRV belonging to Duncan.
The cops were at the plaza under the guise of investigating a car-stealing ring.
The court was told that the witness tried tirelessly to contact the cops but could not. When contact was finally made, Harrison said the witness was instructed by Edwards and Barrett to abandon the vehicle in a private area.
Harrison said the witness then called back Barrett to outline that he was concerned for the safety of Walters and Duncan and told him to warn the officers not to harm the men. The witness, from then on, had a difficulty contacting Barrett and the other cops.
The witness, according to Harrison, then drove from the plaza in the Honda CRV with the intention of taking it to the OCID headquarters in downtown Kingston, with Clayton in tow. On his way to OCID, the witness finally made contact with Barrett, who told him (the witness) not to bring the vehicle there.
The witness, Harrison said, was then joined by another person downtown and was allegedly instructed by Edwards and Lynch, via telephone, to drive the vehicle towards Port Royal where they would "catch up" with him, which they later did, along the Port Royal main road.
At the scene, the court was told, Edwards instructed that the CRV be burnt and, assisted by Lynch and Silvera, Edwards started to throw debris into the vehicle, which he (Edwards) eventually lit.
Harrison said that the witness enquired about Walters and Duncan, to which Edwards responded, "The P hole boy [Duncan] get bright. Him say him no fraid fi dead an' a talk bout anything a anything, so mi jus slam one shot inna him head."
The men then left the burning CRV and headed back to OCID in a Toyota motor car. When they got to OCID, Lynch, Edwards and Silvera went into Barrett's office.
Around 10 minutes later, the men and Barrett came out of the office and Barrett told them all, including the witness, not to repeat what had taken place, the court heard.
The witness further said, in his statement, that on January 10, 2005, five days after the burnt-out CRV was found in the mangroves on Port Royal Road, Barrett dictated a statement to him, which he was coerced into signing. In that statement, the witness said he was told to speak of another vehicle being seized and not the CRV.
Clayton was later tried for the men's murder but found not guilty. The said witness, on whom the prosecution is relying, also gave evidence in that trial.
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