Keith Clarke’s daughter took the witness stand on Tuesday and told the court that on the night he was shot dead by members of the security forces she had resigned herself to death, given the volume of gunshots she heard being fired outside the family house.

“It felt like a nightmare. It was very clear that the house was under attack. There was sustained gunfire on the house,” Britney Clarke told the seven-member jury in the Home Circuit Court hearing the trial of three soldiers — lance corporals Greg Tingling and Odel Buckley as well as Private Arnold Henry — charged with murder in connection with the May 27, 2010, shooting death of her father.

Law enforcers said that intelligence had led them the Clarkes’ residence at Kirkland Close in Red Hills, St Andrew, where it is alleged that then fugitive Christopher “Dudus” Coke and seven of his henchmen were hiding in the basement.

At the time of the incident, Coke was wanted in the United States on drugs and weapons charges.

Britney, who was 18 years old at the time of the incident, told the court on Tuesday that she witnessed her father being shot inside his bedroom by members of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF).

Clarke, an accountant, was shot more than 20 times, including in his back.

Britney testified that she and her mother, Dr Claudette Clarke, were instructed by her father to hide in the bathroom inside the master bedroom and close the door. While they were in the bathroom, she said her father left the room with his licensed firearm then came back and climbed on top of a closet in the room, where he hid himself.

She said that shortly after her father went on top of the closet she heard the sounds of a saw cutting open the room door.

“Inside the bathroom I accepted the fact that I was about to die and I began to call the police again,” she said, explaining that she had tried to call the police numerous times for help.

“I called my pastor, Reverend Astor Carlyle, and also Patricia Noble, and also our neighbours. When I called the neighbours, Mommy spoke with them at that time. While in the bathroom I told Mommy to stop calling people and just pray. After being inside the bathroom I heard my father’s voice in the corridor by the bedroom door. He asked us to open the bedroom door. Mommy exited the bathroom, went into the bedroom and opened the door for Daddy. At this time I was still in the bathroom. Yes, I could see what was happening. When he re-entered the bedroom, he still had his licensed firearm at that time,” she testified.

“Myself, my father, and my mother congregated inside the bedroom and then we sought refuge. Mommy and I went back into the bathroom while Daddy climbed on top of the cupboard. I saw him throw his gun on top of the cupboard, then climbed up. He used the window ledge to climb up. In the bathroom I prayed. I made a decision to face the darkness that was coming. I was telling the voices we heard outside in the corridor that they don’t have to saw off the door and that I could just open it. While exiting the bathroom, the soldiers began entering the bedroom,” she said further.

She said she recognised them as soldiers because of their uniform. Additionally, she said, they wore masks and their heads were covered.

“Majority, if not all, of their faces were covered. Six to eight soldiers entered the bedroom. They entered the room in a line, one behind the other. They had very long guns,” Britney said.

She told the jury, during the examination-in-chief, that when the soldiers entered the room they pointed their guns at her and her mother. According to her, the soldiers then asked who resided at the premises and wanted to know where the gunmen were hiding in the house.

Her mother, who was the first witness in the trial, during her testimony, gave a similar account of what happened when the soldiers entered the room.

“Mommy responded to them. She said it was only herself, her daughter and husband who live there. The soldiers said, ‘Weh him deh?’ My mother responded and she pointed Daddy out. He was coming down from on top of the cupboard. When I saw him, he was in front of the window coming down. His back was turned towards everyone, including the soldiers in the room, my mother and myself,” the daughter told the court.

“When she pointed, they turned around to face him. He didn’t have anything in his hands when he was climbing down but the soldiers turned around and shot him multiple times. I can’t confirm the exact point he reached when he received the shots but his back was turned when they shot him multiple times,” Clarke said.

The trial continues today.