DURING intense cross-examination by King’s Counsel (KC) Valerie Neita-Robertson on Monday, Dr Claudette Clarke admitted that she did not see if her husband, accountant Keith Clarke, had fired his licensed firearm at members of the security forces on May 27, 2010 when he was shot dead in his house by soldiers.

Dr Clarke is the first witness in the trial of three Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) soldiers who were charged in 2012 with murder in relation to the shooting death of her husband.

Clarke was shot numerous times in the back during a police military operation in 2010 aimed at capturing then fugitive Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who was wanted in the United States on drugs and weapons charges.

During her testimony Dr Clarke insisted that Coke and seven other men were not being harboured at her house in Kirkland Heights, St Andrew, where the incident took place.

The soldiers on trial are lance corporals Greg Tingling and Odel Buckley, and Private Arnold Henry.

Neita Robertson is representing Tingling.

Dr Clarke said that when gunfire started to erupt outside her house on the night in question, she first told her daughter to get under a bed because she and her husband were afraid. She said she was trying to keep her husband by her side for his safety but he insisted on doing otherwise.

“Yes, I held on to him and he said he had to go because he wasn’t going to allow criminals to come in and kill us off. I held on to him because I was trying to protect him. Yes madam, I saw him with his licensed firearm in his hand and I was aware he went out in the front entrance room with it. He left the bedroom and came back while my daughter and I were in the master bathroom hiding. When he went out there, there were explosions,” Dr Clarke said before explaining that she did not see what happened when her husband went to the entrance room of the house because she was locked inside the room.

Neita-Robertson further grilled the witness, probing whether she was aware that gunmen were challenging the security forces outside her house on the night her husband was killed and that Coke and his men were staying in her basement that night.

“No madam. I don’t know that person. I wasn’t harbouring Dudus and seven other men that night. He was not at my house,” Dr Clarke then asked, “I know there is a law called harbouring a fugitive, so why wasn’t I arrested since I was also living at the house?”

Neita-Robertson shot back, telling Dr Clarke that she was fortunate in that case to not have been arrested.

The attorney then asked Dr Clarke whether she was aware that a bullet from her husband’s firearm was taken from the foot of one of the soldiers.

Dr Clarke replied, “I was not aware that men outside fired at the military helicopter. No men were staying in my basement and I was not aware that a bullet from my husband’s gun was found in one of the soldiers.”

Dr Clarke told the seven-member jury that she was only made aware that soldiers and police were outside in her yard after she spoke to her neighbour on the phone.

“She said it seemed as if there were a lot of police and soldiers out there. I told my husband. He didn’t reject it but he said if it was police and soldiers they don’t operate that way,” Dr Clarke testified.

Peter Champagnie, KC, who is representing Buckley, began his cross-examination of the witness on Monday, seeking to tear apart the evidence given by Dr Clarke.

In an affidavit Dr Clarke had stated that her her husband was unlawfully killed by police and soldiers who were acting as agents of the Jamaican Government.

Champagnie suggested to her that she did not know who shot her husband.

Dr Clarke couldn’t say definitively how many soldiers in total entered the bedroom where her husband was shot. She admitted that seconds before her husband was shot, events unfolded very quickly and she did not get the chance to count how many soldiers were in the room.

“Yes sir, I would agree with you. I didn’t count how many of them,” she said.

“My husband was shot and on the ground. I had no time to count numbers,” she added, admitting that she had indicated a number in her affidavit in relation to the soldiers who came into her bedroom.

“Yes sir, I gave a statement saying about five or six soldiers came into the room before my husband was shot,” she said.

“Champagnie then went on to quiz Dr Clarke about whether it had rained the day her husband was killed and whether there was red dirt in her area, as is synonymous with many parts of Red Hills, St Andrew.

He asked Dr Clarke that since she testified that the soldiers climbed on her bed before opening fire on her husband, why were there no shoe prints on the bed or the sheets. He also tackled her about the number of soldiers she said jumped on the bed.

“Sir, it happened so fast, I did not count how many soldiers entered. I just know that soldiers jumped on the bed. I did not stop to count,” she said.

Champagnie chided Dr Clarke for attempting to “beat around the bush” every time he asked her a question.

He asked her whether she had put in in her affidavit that her husband fired at the security forces, but insisted that she did not see him fire a weapon.

Dr Clarke responded that she never said so on previous occasions.

However, after Champagnie showed her a copy of the affidavit Dr Clarke said: “After seeing a copy, I said so, but I didn’t see him. I did not lie on my husband. After I watched the news I heard that soldiers were injured. I knew he left the room with his firearm in his hand, so that is why I made the statement. I did not see him because I did not follow him out.”

The trial continues today.