Keith Clarke trial postponed again

The unavailability of a witness in the Keith Clarke murder trial on Wednesday resulted in the matter being further postponed for resumption on September 23.

A former legal officer at the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF), Colonel Patrick Cole, was expected to take the stand, but his testimony was pushed back for the court to hear legal arguments before he takes the stand.

Consequently, a pathologist who had examined the deceased man’s body was to give evidence.

However, Justice Dale Palmer told the seven-member jury that efforts to reach the witness, who is in another jurisdiction, were unsuccessful, hence the matter was adjourned.

Earlier on Monday, the matter was also delayed due to the absence of one of the jurors who had been in an accident during the August break. The matter was, as a result, set for resumption on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, defendants Lance Corporals Greg Tingling and Odel Buckley and Private Arnold Henry, who are charged with Clarke’s murder, had their bails extended.

The 63-year-old accountant was shot 21 times inside his master bedroom at his Kirkland Close, St Andrew, home, on May 27, 2010, during a police-military operation to apprehend then-fugitive drug lord Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke.

WITNESS ACCOUNTS

Clarke’s widow and daughter previously testified that they witnessed Clarke being shot while climbing down from the closet with his back turned to the soldiers. Clarke’s daughter, Brittany, had insisted that he was shot at the window while coming down.

Both relatives had also insisted that they were home alone with Clarke when they heard sounds and thought criminals were breaking in on them.

However, a former government forensic analyst testified that Keith Clarke was shot while inside the closet in the master bedroom, contradicting the testimony from his widow and daughter that it occurred while he was climbing down from atop the closet.

The expert witness also ruled out the idea that the witness was shot at the window. She testified that she did not see any blood spatter on the window or the walls around the window. She also could not recall seeing a curtain and whether it had blood marks but was certain that there were no bloodstains or spatter on the window.

The court was told that it was likely that Clarke was shot while positioned at the left side of the closet based on the blood spatter captured in a photograph she was shown.

Meanwhile, the last witness, Brigadier Mahatma Williams, who commanded the unit linked to the death of the businessman, previously testified that based on an aerial video that captured the shooting on the grounds of the premises, he believed that the soldiers “acted in good faith”.

The aerial video, which was disclosed last month by the prosecution, was recorded by the JDF from a helicopter.

Williams testified that after the incident, he and others reviewed the video, which showed that the soldiers came under attack from insurgents inside the Clarkes’ premises and that the soldiers had followed the requisite drills.

Williams also told the court that the JDF had relied on intelligence, which led them to the premises and that his team came under attack while heading to Kirkland Close.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com