KINGSTON, Jamaica – The Crown in the ongoing trial of alleged Klansman gangsters is yet to satisfy Chief Justice Bryan Sykes that defendant Andre Smith, otherwise called ‘Bolo’, was the man shot dead in August last year when the proceedings were on a break.

Smith had been on bail from day one of the trial and was expected to remain so until the matter resumed on September 19, following an adjournment in July, when he was shot at the intersection of Hagley Park Road and Keesing Avenue in the Corporate Area. The accused gangster was driving a Nissan AD wagon along Hagley Park Road when men traveling on a motorcycle rode up and shot him before driving away. Smith succumbed to his wounds at the hospital.

Smith was answering to charges related to a 2017 double murder and membership of a criminal organisation.

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, ahead of his summation Monday morning, made enquiries about the proof of death for Smith whose name was still called during the customary roll call.

The investigating officer in the matter, in taking the stand, testified that having been alerted about the shooting, he perused the photos taken by scenes of crime officials and was positive that the body was that of Smith’s. He said he saw photos of the body at the scene and at the morgue. He said while he did not attend the post mortem, there was a statement from the scenes of crime photographer.

The investigator under probe by the judge said he met Smith in 2020.

The chief justice was however dissatisfied with accepting only what the investigating officer said as proof. In asking whether the officer who took the photograph was present, and being told by the Crown that it would prefer if the individual was not present, Justice Sykes said “so we do have a problem because we do need to authenticate the photographs”.

The judge further noted that the Crown could have gone the way of getting the defence to agree the evidence so the matter could be resolved.

The Crown in responding said it would source and produce the required documentary proof.

– Alicia Dunkley-Willis