A relative of slain Westmoreland man Ika Clarke yesterday detailed for a courtroom the horror of stumbling across the charred body of the man he said he had left in good health just the day before, on a farm in Mint Mountain, Grange Hill, Westmoreland.

Clarke is believed to have been one of the many victims of the feared Westmoreland-based King Valley gang, the members of which the police say have terrorised residents of Grange Hill and surrounding communities for some years now.

Eight alleged members of that gang — Carlington Godfrey, alias Tommy; Lindell Powell, alias Lazarus; Rannaldo McKennis, otherwise know as Ratty; Derval Williams, also called Lukie; Hopeton Sankey, alias Bigga; Christon Grant, alias Ecoy; Copeland Sankey, also known as Tupac; and Sean Suckra, also called Elder — are charged in an indictment containing 11 counts and are accused of conspiring to commit murder, rape and robbery with aggravation from as early as 2013.

Earlier this month, the star prosecution witness, who testified via live video link from an undisclosed location, told the court that Clarke had been killed by the gangsters as a result of a dispute.

He testified that he and several others of the gang went looking for Clarke, and in the course of that search, raped and robbed his sister as revenge. When the gang eventually caught up with Clarke sometime after, the witness claimed that he was not present but had been told of the brutal end that he met in graphic detail.

“I got a call from Tommy. He told me that him, Lazarus, Ratty, Owen, Elder, and Catman (allegedly now the leader of the gang) went up to bush (farm) and them chop him (Clarke) up and shoot him, and stab him with a fork. Him seh Elder tek out him eyes dem and dem light him a fire, out him and light him a fire again, and Owen tek up back di spent shell dem. Tommy told me he was sorry I wasn’t there to witness everything,” the witness told the court then.

Yesterday, the prosecution witness, who cannot be identified due to the sensitive nature of the case, told the court that Clarke had been left at the farm on March 25, 2017, alive. He said when he returned the day after, “the hut burn down and Ika was there”, but looked nothing like he did the day before.

“He was burnt up. His face burn off, his belly — is like nothing don’t inside him belly, it come like everything inside a him belly burn out,” the witness detailed.

Asked how he was able to tell who the body belonged to, the witness said he was able to identify the body because of a childhood scar.

“There is a cut he got across him feet, and him feet never burn so the scar was there,” the witness told the court, adding that upon seeing the body he left it and reported his discovery to the police.

He said he then returned to the farm with the police, where he was again asked to identify the body.

Yesterday, a police witness, who visited the scene, told the court that when he arrived there that morning, he witnessed “the board and zinc hut on a hill that was partially on fire.

“It was still burning. I proceeded to the area where I observed the charred remains of a male lying on its back on the ground. I also observed several 9mm spent casings laying on the ground around the body,” the officer told the court.

“The body was burnt almost completely from the head to the torso in the region of the groin, only the left leg between the knee down wasn’t burnt”, the court was told.

He said he then called for assistance to have the scene processed. In processing the scene, the officer said photographs were taken and there was dusting and collecting of potential evidence from the location.

Meanwhile, the police officer said during the investigation into the murder of Clarke, he received several names. He said the accused Lindell Powell was, during that period, taken in by the police, interrogated and placed into custody. He also said the accused Carlington Godfrey, who was already imprisoned elsewhere, was also questioned and charged jointly with Powell for Clarke’s murder. Neither men admitted any detail in relation to the find, the court was told.

The trial is set to resume on Monday.