THE prosecution’s main witness in the murder trial of entertainer Vybz Kartel and four co-accused men admitted yesterday, under cross-examination, that he had testified to things that were not in his statements to the police.
However, he denied suggestions from attorney Tamika Harris that he was making up things on the stand, and insisted that he was present when his friend Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams was killed in a house in Havendale, St Andrew, on August 16, 2011.
Also yesterday, a letter to Public Defender Earl Witter, that defence attorneys believe was written by the key prosecution witness, was disclosed to the court. The contents of the letter were not revealed in court, but the witness is believed to have written to the public defender complaining that he had been forced to give his statements and that he had seen Williams since August 16, 2011, the day on which Williams is said to have been killed.
The letter was expected to be examined to determine if the witness is its author as he has denied penning the document.
Kartel (real name Adidja Palmer), Kahira Jones, Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, André St John, and Shane Williams are being tried in the Home Circuit Court for Williams’ murder.
During the cross-examination by Harris, who is representing St John, the witness agreed, after being showed his statements, that there was nothing in them about him seeing men peeping out of a room when Williams was being beaten, and that he told the taxi driver who took him to the house in Havendale to wait for him.
Harris suggested to the witness that nothing like that is in the statements to the police because he was making things up on the witness stand, but he denied the suggestion.
“It is not the truth,” Harris said.
“It is the truth, Miss,” said the witness, who continued to give evidence with his head hung, seemingly avoiding eye contact with the accused and even the attorneys who questioned him.
The witness denied suggestions that he didn’t see Williams motionless on the floor inside the house. He also denied a suggestion that he didn’t see St John with a cinder block standing over Williams.
Harris suggested that the witness could not have seen these things of which he had previously testified because he was outside of the yard, where he was kept at bay by the dog, and that he was escorting Kartel to the hospital after his own dog bit him. But the witness shot back, “No, Miss.”
The witness completed his last day on the stand yesterday. But he could be recalled for further questioning in relation the letter allegedly written to the public defender.
The trial continues today.