Former head of legal affairs at the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Lieutenant Colonel Patrick Cole said Monday that based on how statements were prepared, there was no definitive way of identifying soldiers involved in the shooting death of accountant Keith Clarke at his house in St Andrew on May 27, 2010.

Cole was giving testimony in the Home Circuit Court where three soldiers are on trial for the murder of Clarke. On trial are lance corporals Greg Tingling and Odel Buckley as well as Private Arnold Henry.

According to Cole, in written reports that he had signed and submitted to the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) and the police, only numbers were used to identify the soldiers as opposed to names. But Cole told the court that the report was done by officers of lower ranks, which he later signed. He said he did not verify who exactly the numbers were attached to, saying that he wanted to sign it quickly so that it could be sent off to the relevant authorities.

The numbers said to have been assigned to the three soldiers were 38, 42 and 44.

“I agree with you that I cannot assure this court and the jury present that these numbers are properly identified to the men in the dock. I think it was Buckley, Tingling and Henry. I see some men in the dock but I wouldn’t want to tell you who is who because it has been 14 years. The three soldiers gave statements. I gave instructions that a particular process that was developed in dealing with these types of matters should be allowed. The process was that instead of using their names in the statements, we would use numbers. The reason for that was that the press was being very intrusive and wanted to know the details of persons’ identity.

“In addition, we wanted to ensure the soldiers felt comfortable, in a safe place and that their identity would not be disclosed, so we arrived at some numbers which we would have used before in similar situation. The numbers were not assigned by me. The numbers were assigned by the persons who took the statements. I first saw a letter presented to me with certain numbers and I signed that letter and sent it off to the persons who needed to get it. I did not verify the numbers. There was no time for me to verify. We needed to get the information to the persons who needed to get it as quickly as possible. If there were any issues that arose, we would deal with it on a case by case basis,” said the army man.

Cole told the court that there were around 46 numbers that were assigned to soldiers who were on operation at Clarke’s house on the morning he was killed.

“Numbers were assigned starting with number one and continued after 44 and you never verified any of those numbers above 44. I was presented with the entire list of numbers but the police officer concentrated, based on his instructions, on three. About 46 numbers were on the list. It was the police officer who called my attention to the three numbers,” Cole told the court.

Keith Clarke was killed during a police military operation at his 18 Kirkland Close home in Red Hills, St Andrew, during the security forces’ search for then fugitive Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who was believed to be hiding in the basement at Clarke’s house along with seven of his heavily armed cronies.

Clarke was shot more than 20 times, including in his back by soldiers inside the master bedroom of his house.

The trial continues on Tuesday.