KINGSTON, Jamaica – The prosecution’s second witness in the trial involving 33 alleged members of the St Catherine-based Klansman gang Thursday morning claimed that he had been offered money by incarcerated members to not testify against them.

He made the stunning disclosure during cross examination by Alexander Shaw, attorney for the sole female accused Stephanie Christie, otherwise called ‘Mumma’.

Asked by Shaw if he had been in contact with any of the accused while in custody and whether he had demanded money from his client or from the other incarcerated accused in return for his silence, the witness declared. “I was given an offer to say how much money I want on behalf of ‘Sick Head’ and (one other) to come to court and say I don’t know them.”

‘Sick Head’, whose real name is Lamar Simpson, is among the accused on trial for allegedly being members of the Klansman criminal enterprise.

Shaw had been grilling the witness with suggestions that he hated Christie, had even plotted to kill her and had made unsavoury comments about her, branding her as an “obeah worker” among other things.

But according to the witness, he had no reason to hate Christie and had not told anyone she was an obeah worker except to tell the court that she had provided “guard rings” for members of the gang and had offered one to him as well.

The witness also stood by his earlier assertions that Christie was the “aggressor” in meetings held by the gang in contrast to the attorney’s suggestions that the only meetings his client was involved in were church meetings and community meetings.

Alicia Dunkley-Willis