‘I was beaten three days straight’
ONE accused member of the Westmoreland-based King Valley gang, Lindell Powell, has claimed that his statement to the police two years ago, in which he said he fired five bullets into the chest of Ika Clarke, was only given because of coercion, as he was beaten “three days straight” by police to make that admission.
Clarke was shot, chopped and burnt to death allegedly by King Valley gang members in March 2017, for crossing them.
The 20-year-old Powell, otherwise known as “Lazarus”, was one of three accused who vehemently denied the charges against them in unsworn statements in their own defence yesterday, maintaining that the Crown’s star witness had concocted tales about them for reasons of his own.
Powell is one of the remaining six alleged members of that gang charged in an indictment containing 11 counts on suspicion of conspiring to commit murder, rape and robbery with aggravation from as early as 2013, who is now before the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston. He, along with the others: Carlington Godfrey, alias Tommy; Rannaldo McKennis, otherwise known as Ratty; Derval Williams, also called Lukie; Christon Grant, alias Ecoy; Copeland Sankey, also known as Tupac, have all been on trial since January 14. Former accused Sean Suckra and Hopeton Sankey, who had also been on trial, were declared not guilty following successful no-case submissions by their lawyers last Thursday. Another former accused, Ricky Hall, had also walked free at the start of the hearing, after the prosecution indicated it had no evidence in respect of the two counts for which he was charged.
In the incriminating statement emanating from a question-and-answer session with the then 18-year-old Powell, when he was taken into custody in relation to the death of Clarke on July 15, 2017, admitted to knowing one of the other accused on trial — Godfrey — stating, “Mi juss buy game from him when mi used to small, him work a food shop.”
Asked if he and Godfrey had ever worked together, he said, “Yes, when Ika Clarke was murdered.”
When questioned about the specific part he played in Clarke’s murder, he said: “Fire five shot in a him chest.”
When asked what role Godfrey played, Powell said: “Him chop him up and a different person burn him.”
Asked who burned Clarke’s body, he said: “Cat from Kings Valley”.
Quizzed as to why Clarke was killed, Powell had this to say, according to the document: “Him did a mek talk seh mi cousin, Bleachers, cyaan bury, and mi ago dead, and him already kill one a mi fren.”
When asked how the gang members had found the hut where Ika was hidden, Powell said: “A some Googling… seh him inna hut pon hilltop, so wi go fi him.”
As to whether a gun found in his possession was the weapon used to kill Clarke, he had this to say, “Yes, but a nuh it alone kill him.”
However, addressing the court during the bench trial that is being presided over by Chief Justice Bryan Sykes yesterday, Powell, who speaks with a slight stutter, denied that he was involved in any gang activity, stating that his sole occupation was “body work”.
“I am not a part of any gang; I don’t know about any gang. I don’t know nothing about the murder of Ika Clarke, I was being forced to sign the question-and-answer [document] before Mr Erskine (lawyer) was present. I was beaten three days straight. I was told that is me and Carlington Godfrey and Cat kill Ika. I have sisters and mother, I don’t do any raping,” he said, vehemently shaking his head, causing his short locks to flutter.
Yesterday, Godfrey — sporting a snow-white shirt with blue detailing, his short locks pulled into a ponytail — in protesting his own innocence, told the court that he was a father of three, operated a bike taxi, worked as a chef, and also sold games in a bid to make a living. He further dismissed the testimony of the Crown’s star witness against him, insisting that he had left the Grange Hill community from 2014 when he was imprisoned because of “an incident there”.
“Some of the men in the prison cut a hole in June 2015 and mi an dem escape, it was nine men in there. Mi guh a mi cousin house fi one night, and mi get a phone and some money and go away to Clarendon. I was working on a chicken farm for a man, and I met a young lady and I get her pregnant; is she mi have the three-year-old with,” he told the trial.
“I was there for a while working, cleaning out the coop and so, then he said he was told that he was harbouring a wanted man and he did not want to get caught up in any problems, so I left and went to St Ann in 2017. I was there for a little and I end up getting rearrested,” Godfrey said.
While admitting that he and the witness were stepbrothers, he said every other bit of evidence given by that individual was not true.
“Everything the witness said about me is not true. Him father did deh wid mi mother fi bout seven years, him a mi stepbrother. Mi woulda see him when mi a ride mi bike past. When mi escape in 2014, mi stay away from Westmoreland because when mi escape the police kill one a di guy di same week and di day after mi mother tell mi dat police come kick down her door and tell her wah dem a go di wid mi if dem ketch mi. Then afta dat, dem kill bout three more of the man dem, so mi stay away completely from Westmoreland. Dem rearrested mi when mi go St Ann. Dem beat mi. Di only conviction mi have is escaping custody,” he said further.
He also dismissed claims by the witness that he had called him from prison, stating that he did not know the number that was said to be his.
“Mi keep phone fi a week and then change di number because mi nuh want police track mi,” Godfrey said, before adding: “Di statement weh di police seh dis man (Lindell Powell) give, mi ask him why him tell dat lie on mi and him say him never have a choice because di police dem a beat him and a seh a him and Tommy and Cat do it. Him seh him never have a choice to how dem a beat him.”
He further denied going on any “missions” with the Crown’s witness, or any other member of the gang to carry out rapes, robberies and hits, noting: “Mi and dis man never go anywhere before; the majority a these men you see inna this box, mi nuh know dem. I don’t know Ika; I never in a no gang. I don’t know Tito (deceased former gang leader), I don’t know Catman (alleged current gang leader).
Said Godfrey: “Everything the witness tell you is a lie. All di while mi a wonder why him tell lie on mi until him seh di police tell him seh a mi an dis man kill him auntie, dats when mi understand why him tell lie on mi. Him father and my mother inna business, mi wouldn’t try hurt the man weh my mother love. Mi have seven sisters, mi wouldn’t like nobody rape my sister dem; mi nah go stand guard fi nobody. Clearly this man telling a bunch a lies.”
Meanwhile, McKennis, who it is alleged participated in the rape of a crony’s sister and a hit for the gang, said while he was the cousin of the witness, he had “no forms of association [with him] because his mother and my mother are not at peace”.
“I chop cane, I do labourer work… I don’t know Quan (otherwise known as Lorenzo Beckford — the individual the Crown’s witness had said McKennis shot during a contract killing). I don’t have the heart to do what this man is talking about. I am not part of any gang. We don’t have anything in common, I don’t know this man. I have never stolen any bike. More time I stay in Hanover, I have never been to St Elizabeth to buy any gun — I don’t need a gun, I am not in any war with anyone,” he told the court.
According to McKennis, “This man is carrying feelings because he claimed I take away his girlfriend.”
“I have never been part of any gang. I have never killed anyone. This man just have mi up. It’s the first I’m hearing the name of this person he said I killed. I have never scammed in my life, Your Honour, so what this man is saying is not true. I have never gone around in Grange Hill and target anyone, never in my lifetime, Your Honour. I wouldn’t want anyone to do those stuff to my family,” he added.
Attorney for McKennis, Donald Bryan, meanwhile, indicated that he would be calling two witnesses for the accused in the pending days.
Last month, the star prosecution witness, who testified via live video link from an undisclosed location, told the court that gang members were involved in the deadly lottery scamming scheme, committed murders and rapes in the course of robberies, and were also murderers for hire.
“I made money by scamming and robberies, and also we go and do hitman work. So that if someone should die, we get paid to kill the person. I do most of the scamming with my nephew, my cousin, and some of my friends, and some of the gang also,” said the main witness, who the court was told was a member of the gang up to 2018, before “voluntarily” indicating a desire to assist in the apprehension of its members.
The court was told that the individual who was the “sponsor” for the gang “is a scammer, and supplied the gang with money” from scamming “clients, [some of whom were] white people”. When asked how often money was given to the leader of the gang by the alleged sponsor, the witness said amounts of up to $100,000 were given to the individual at least twice weekly.
The trial continues today when at least one accused, Derval Williams, is expected to make a sworn statement. The court was, in the meantime, asked by Russell Stewart, the attorney representing Powell, to grant a subpoena to summon a witness for his client’s case.