THE issue of a fourth man possibly being at the January 12, 2013 shooting scene on Acadia Drive in Barbican, St Andrew, was explored by defence attorney Hugh Wildman on Monday as he quizzed an officer of the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) in the murder trial of six policemen.

The cops are on trial in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston for murder in relation to the shooting deaths of Matthew Lee, Ucliffe Dyer and Mark Allen, who were travelling in a Blue Mitsubishi Outlander motor vehicle which was stopped by cops during an operation. It is alleged that men alighted from the vehicle to challenge the police in a gunfight. The three men were killed during this alleged shoot-out with the police. A fourth man was said to have escaped on Evans Avenue, which forms an intersection with Acadia Drive where the incident unfolded.

Two illegal firearms were seized following the shooting.

Wildman asked the Indecom officer if Agriculture Minister Floyd Green and another alleged eyewitness to the incident spoke of the presence of a fourth man at any point.

The Indecom officer was also asked whether he received information about a fourth man, and whether it had been recorded in any statement.

The officer shared that he only managed to secure two alleged eyewitnesses in the matter, as other people were unwilling to assist in the investigation. He also spoke about receiving a phone call from an anonymous caller but could not recall definitively at which point the reference to a fourth man was made.

“These two witnesses sent an anonymous letter. I don’t think the letter mentioned a fourth man. I don’t recall if it was mentioned during the call, or at what point the fourth man was mentioned, but it was mentioned,” the Indecom officer said, expounding that he could not recall if he had asked Green and the other eyewitness about a fourth man.

He said he asked them if they had written an anonymous letter to Indecom regarding the incident, but could not recall their response.

He told the court that a statement was taken from Green after Indecom recorded the statement of the other eyewitness in the matter.

Wildman asked the officer whether the statements taken from Green and the other person were witnessed by a justice of the peace (JP). He also asked him to say whether that would constitute a breach of a section of the Indecom Act which stipulates that certain statements taken by Indecom must be witnessed by a JP.

“The statements were not witnessed by a JP but I can’t agree that it was illegal. The JP signed the statement afterwards,” he said.

The Indecom officer was asked if he examined the interior of the Mitsubishi Outlander. He said no. He said, however, that he went inside a yard located across the road from the apartment complex where Green and the other eyewitness lived at the time of the incident.

“I didn’t examine the Outlander any more than what was shown to me at the scene,” the officer said.

He reiterated that a superintendent of police was present at the scene when he arrived after 12:00 pm. He said he was shown two firearms that were allegedly seized from the men.

A ballistics expert contracted by Indecom to investigate the case testified last week in the trial there was evidence to indicate the two illegal firearms seized were fired at the scene.

The trial continues Tuesday, with the Indecom officer facing more cross-examination from Wildman and the other members of the defence team which include Althea Grant-Coppin and John Jacobs.

Justice Sonia Bertram-Linton is the judge presiding over the trial which is being heard by a seven-member jury.

Kathy-Ann Pyke is the lead prosecutor in the case. Cygale Pennant is her junior from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.