NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The lawyer for one of three men on trial for the 2013 Fox Hill mass shooting that killed four people and injured seven others suggested yesterday that the vehicle processed by police and the one used in the incident are not the same.
Geoffrey Farquharson, who represents Justin Williams, continued his cross examination of crime scene investigator Detective Corporal Navar Neely before Supreme Court Justice Deborah Fraser.
On Wednesday, Neely testified that he was instructed by his superior to process a silver four-door Honda in the parking lot of the Central Detective Unit at 9:30 a.m. on December 28.
The right-hand drive vehicle was registered to Maxwell and Eric Culmer Curry, the jury heard.
Neely said that upon checking the vehicle he discovered that the ignition appeared to be damaged; part of the ignition was in the driver’s door; there was screwdriver in the back seat area; there were several sunglasses in different areas of the vehicle; and there were a number of fired cartridge casings of different calibers observed in different areas of the vehicle.
Yesterday, Farquharson said: “I want to put it to you sir that this was a staged scene.
“I want to put it to you that the owner said there was no damage to this car. If the owner said that, this whole thing is fakery”.
Neely insisted that he had no contact with any complainant in this matter, given that his job was solely to collect information.
But Williams’ attorney went further.
“It can’t be true that both your statement that the ignition had been disassembled and the owner’s statement that there was no damage to her car,” Farquarson said.
Neely was then questioned about the color of the vehicle.
Farquharson said: “Contrary to what you gave in evidence, this was a brown car.”
However, Neely contended that the pictures taken and turned over into evidence were of a gray/silver color.
Farquharson asked him whether he was informed that the vehicle in question was found “running on the streets” with the car on and the keys in the car.
He further posited that the evidence presented was “designed to mislead the jury”, calling it “fakery”.
“An officer who does the same job as you has it in his report that the car was brown,” the court heard Farquharson say.
“…You weren’t on the crime scene.
“Someone came to you and told you to take a picture of this car.
“Whoever told you to take a picture of the car has led you to mislead the court.
“It’s obvious the vehicle that you photographed is not the vehicle used in the incident.”
Williams, along with Jermaine Curry and Peter Rolle are accused of murdering Claudezino Davis, Shaquille Demeritte, Eric Morrison and Shenique Sands on December 27, 2013.
The trio has also been charged for the attempted murder of Chino Davis, Janet Davis, John Davis,
Benjamin Demeritte, Samuel Ferguson, Jermaine Pratt and Leroy Taylor, on the same day.
Curry is being represented by attorney Murrio Ducille and Rolle is represented by Sonia Timothy.
According to reports, a crowd of people were gathered on the park on December 27, 2013 awaiting Junkanoo results, when the occupants of a small dark vehicle opened fire “with a variety of weapons” in the area just behind the basketball court shortly before 6pm.
Pointing to the shell casings that Neely testified was found in various areas of the vehicle, Farquharson noted that .223 casings (which he previously said are fired from AK-47 assault rifles) were discovered underneath the driver’s seat and the steering wheel.
He asked Neely whether he was told that the vehicle was traveling east to west and fired shots from the north side of the park.
The crime scene investigator said no.
Farquharson then asserted that “a person sitting on a driver’s side, shooting, will blow the passenger’s head off.”
Neely was also asked whether he tested the roof of the vehicle for gunpowder residue, given that reports indicated that the passengers were sitting outside of the window while shooting.
He once again said no.
Farquharson insisted that that would have been an important piece of evidence of for the case.
As he closed his questioning of the detective, the defense attorney told the court that if there were four people in the vehicle, with one person driving and three people sitting out of the window shooting: “there’s no way shell casings could have been found on divers side, if that’s the case”.
The jury returns on Tuesday for the continuation of the matter.
