Prior don’s sexuality in focus re river play with male criminals
Thank you for reading this post. Don't forget to subscribe!
The sexuality of the prosecution’s second witness was scrutinized by a defense attorney who on Friday tried to establish that the witness was not credible in his testimony during the trial.
The line of questioning was posed by attorney Mikael Lorne, who represents Kemar Harrison, alias ‘Stamma’, one of the 33 accused persons in the ongoing Clansman gang trial in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston.
Lorne began proceedings by asking the witness to describe himself, to which he (the witness) said he was “a genuine person”.
But Lorne did not buy that assertion, pointing out that the witness had previously told the court that he played a game called ‘Toe’ in a river with several men.
The witness laughed, then agreed that he did indicate that to the court.
Previously, the witness testified that he and other alleged members of the One Don faction of the Clansman gang would play the game.
According to the ex-gangster, he and other gang members would engage in a form of swimming competition, where they would swim after each other. When one individual catches another, that person would touch the other on his head and say ‘Toe’.
Lorne on Friday asked the witness if he did not think that it was strange that he could not recall the name of a female on Thursday, but remembered the names of some 30 men he played a game with.
“You don’t see anything wrong with that?” the attorney asked, to which the witness responded, “No”.
The witness then laughed when Lorne questioned him on whether he felt comfortable playing “wid ah bag a man”.
After his laughter, the witness asked the attorney, “You don’t play football with ah bag a man?”
Lorne then went on to suggest that the witness implicated his client, Kemar Harrison, due to a rift over a woman he (the witness) dated on occasions.
But the witness rejected that suggestion, pointing out that he was not aware that Harrison was involved with the woman he was seeing at the time.
On Wednesday, attorney Courtney Rowe, who represents accused Marco Miller, alias ‘Ezzy’, also accused the witness of implicating his client in the gang due to issues relative to his (the witness’) on-and-off girlfriend.
The witness also denied that accusation.
On Friday, Lorne told the witness that his client knew that the female in question was his (the witness’) woman.
“(She) not my girl; (a) everybody girl. Mi never marries her,” the witness quipped.
Meanwhile, the self-styled former don told the court on the day that at least one of the two gangsters who he said attempted to bribe him was not among the 33 accused persons on trial.
The witness made the claim during cross-examination from attorney Sasha-Kay Shaw, who represents defendant Joseph McDermott, alias ‘Papa’.
Shaw had asked the witness if ‘Termite’, who was one of the men he said bribed him, was before the court.
“No ma’am,” responded the witness.
On Thursday, the witness claimed that ‘Termite’ and defendant Lamar Simpson, alias ‘Sick Head’, had offered to pay him to testify in court that he did not know them.
The witness testified on Friday that he knew that ‘Termite’ was not before the court.
In his prior testimony, the witness said ‘Termite’ was allegedly the don for Top Banks, an area in Spanish Town.
According to the witness, Simpson was deputized for ‘Termite’ when the latter was locked up by the police.
In further cross-examination, Shaw denounced claims the witness made that her client wanted to drink blood from a human skull. She claimed the witness said that because he wanted to create a media sensation.
To that end, Shaw said it was no coincidence that the same day when it was reported in the media that a man drank blood from the head of a decapitated goat, the witness testified that McDermott wanted to drink blood from a skull.
The witness rubbished that suggestion from the attorney.
Meantime, attorney Diane Mitchell, who represents defendant Jason Brown, alias ‘City Puss’, posed no question to the witness.
The prosecution’s second witness has never identified Brown in court but had testified that while he never met him (Brown), he spoke with him on the phone in 2019.
Bryan, along with 31 other men and one woman, is being tried in the Home Circuit Court under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations Act), 2014, better known as the anti-gang legislation, on an indictment with 25 counts, for allegedly being part of a criminal organization, in a judge-alone trial.
Bryan and his co-accused have all pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.
The men and the woman have been charged with multiple offenses, including being part of a criminal organization, illegal possession of firearms, illegal possession of ammunition, facilitating conspiracy to murder, and facilitating arson.
The offenses were allegedly committed between January 1, 2015, and June 30, 2019, in St Catherine.
The trial is to resume on Monday.
