A former Crown witness whose evidence helped sink several members of a gang that cops described as “one of the island’s most organised and vile” says he is being framed for criminal acts in the jurisdiction where he was placed for his safety. He is pleading with Jamaican authorities to help him settle his legal woes before his time on the witness protection programme expires.

The former prosecution witness told the Jamaica Observer that
 he has been charged with sexual assault in one case and sexual penetration of a minor in another in the jurisdiction where he now lives.

He has claimed that he is not guilty of either offence and believes he is being targeted.

The former Crown witness further alleges that one set of his accusers have tried to extort him, demanding cash to drop the case. According to the man, who says he has worn an ankle bracelet for some two years and was at one point under house arrest for more than a year, the police in that country have no evidence to support the claims in both matters which have been languishing in the courts.

He told the Observer that the assault charges stemmed from a failed ambush engineered by a female who came to him on the pretext that she wanted to transact business.

“They tried to rob me, then they went to the station and made a report. The female said I squeezed [her rear] and put my mouth on her breast and I got charged for sexual assault, then on top of that they are messaging me telling me to pay them $63,000 to drop the case,” he alleged.

“I went to the police with this information but these police different from Jamaican police. I have been going to court over and over, nothing has been started, no document nothing, over two years now. It’s either you find me guilty or let mi go. This mashing up my life,” the man said.

As it related to the charge of sexual penetration of a minor he said that, too, was cooked up.

“I change my life completely; I’ve never done anything illegal from I came here. I have changed my life and rehabilitate myself as a man living with my family and thing and then come get caught up in this madness. I didn’t know that girl was so young. I met her on social media; she ran away from home and tell me to pick her up. I went and pick her up. The same day I went and pick her up, I wasn’t in the house with her good before the police were outside.

“They come lock mi up’ mi and that girl was not intimate, the police have not swabbed for DNA, nothing. If I know I do something I confess that I do something,” he insisted.

The man said the recent indications by his case manager that he would soon be cut loose from the witness protection programme in Jamaica could not have come at a worse time.

He fears he will be left to the mercy of the justice system in the country where he is. He further worries that he will not be treated fairly, claiming that his case officer is embroiled in a relationship with his ex-girlfriend which casts a shadow over his sincerity.

“My case officer is the person who signed my bail, and my ex that I was living with, he is now sleeping with her. He is the person who came to tell me I am getting kicked off the programme. Where I am you can’t just walk into an office like in Jamaica and talk to someone. I don’t even know where his office is and worse come to worse, is that person sign my bail and if I scratch him too bad and they revoke my bail I am back inside [jail], so you see the sticky situation I am in. It is ticklish and if I make him lose him job I end up back inside. This is the limbo I am in,” he argued.

He is also of the opinion that his attorney, who was retained by the Jamaican authorities — and who he claims is being paid handsomely — has been too laid-back.

“I went to court back and forth, the case cold, there is no evidence against me. My lawyer has made multiple tries to get the documents [which the defence is supposed to have] to get the case to start. I am on a programme which I know is not forever. Eventually it will come to a halt, which is very understandable. They have been taking care of me and I am very grateful for the things they have done for me,” he said further.

“They stand by my side through thick and thin. Now that they are going to terminate me, even though I haven’t got the official documents yet, but they say it coming, so before it even comes I want to make a cry for help. I need to know what will happen going forward. I am seeking some assistance, some guidance.

“When they cutting ties they will give you a little thing, just to pay bills, I don’t care about the money; if they kick me off the programme, if they cut ties with me with all this thing going on I could die here. I don’t have a work permit. I have no kind of proper documentation for where I am,” he mourned.

“I am not guilty. I come from Jamaica, if I do something I say well, yeah. If I don’t do something I just don’t do it. Look when they want to let me go, when the guys I testified against are being released from custody in Jamaica. When I need them the most is when they decide to let me go. I need some help from my Government. I stood up for my wrongs. I wear an ankle monitor where I cannot go anywhere over a five-kilometre radius. I cannot even go to the embassy,” he said, while proclaiming his innocence.

He. in the meantime. sang the praises of the witness protection programme and the cops assigned to the Jamaica constabulary’s Counter- Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC).

“I would advise anybody who has information to go to the police because, honestly speaking, the State could have left me in jail and let me rot and wash their hands off me, but they still take me out and try with me. The Jamaican system paying my legal fees and for this ankle bracelet. I am very grateful, if anybody has information on criminal activities, go to C-TOC. They treat you real good, I write a book about them. They never diss mi, they never mislead me in no kind a way and they support me 100 per cent,” he said.

National Security Minister Dr Horace Chang in 2023 said the Government expended $234 million for the 2022/2023 financial year to safeguard 260 people in protective custody. He said the budget for the 2020/2021 fiscal year was $180 million, while it was $193 million for 2021/2022.