The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON Tribune Staff Reporter ljohnson@tribunemedia.net TWO witnesses of the February 2006 killing of businessman Keith Carey outside a local bank took the stand yesterday in the retrial of that case. Both witnesses, in and outside of Bank of the Bahamas on Tonique Williams Darling Highway February 27, 2006, testified that they saw a masked gunman hold up and shoot Carey twice on the steps of the bank's entrance. Prosecutors claim Jamal Glinton was the gunman who shot Carey, as he had been attempting to deposit $40,000 belonging to the Esso Service Station which he operated. Glinton, alias "Bumper", was unanimously found guilty of the murder and armed robbery of Carey on April 9, 2009. He had been charged along with Dwight Knowles and Sean Brown, who were unanimously convicted and sentenced for robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery. However, Glinton's conviction was squashed in the Court of Appeal after the higher court ruled that the Senior Justice Jon Isaacs was wrong in law to remove the charges of murder and armed robbery as against the two co-accused from the jury at the close of the case for the defence. Senior Justice Isaacs at the time had directed the jury not to consider the charge of murder against Knowles and Brown. That direction was one of 17 grounds of appeal filed by Glinton's attorney Craig Butler. The appellate court rule in Glinton's favor though they ordered a retrial and remanded him to Her Majesty's Prison. He, however, received bail in the Supreme Court. During the afternoon session of yesterday's proceedings, an employee of that branch, whose name is being withheld for safety reasons, told the 12 member jury she was stationed at the receptionist desk that Monday morning around 10am. She saw Carey exiting his vehicle, walking up the steps to the double doors when a red-orange masked man wearing jeans came out of nowhere and held him up at gunpoint. She said there was a conversation. The gunman pulled the trigger. "He fell back on the second step and turned over and the gunman shoot him again." The then customer service helper said Carey had crawled up the steps but slumped over at the top not to move again. She told prosecutor Darnell Dorsett that upon shooting the businessman a second time, he took Carey's red and black nap sack "that he brought with him every day to the bank". After realising what occurred, she told security to lock the doors and tried to call police. She also added that the white car she'd noticed after the shooting had vanished. In cross-examination, Craig Butler asked the witness why she had not reported seeing the white car to the police. The employee admitted the situation left her in shock, resulting in her not being able to recall everything that she saw when she gave her statement to police at the scene. She also told the defense attorney that six years was a long time to recall exact parking situations. The second eye-witness was a teacher who had come to the bank with her mother. The educator said she was inside her Dodge truck for nearly 10 minutes when she heard shouting. Looking in her side view mirror, she saw two men, one of bright complexion with his arms up in the air and the other wearing an orange mask pointing his arm at the other man. She said Carey was on the steps shouting "No! No! No!" in a panicked voice. She then heard gunshots. The gunman, now holding a red and black duffle bag, looked west and east before heading east though she never saw him again despite hearing "screeching tyres". She ran over to him and began telling him that he was going to be okay "though he did not respond because he was gasping for air". Michelle Carey, wife of the victim, who testified during the morning session, began breaking down and exited the courtroom. "I prayed with him but he never responded," the witness continued. The trial resumes tomorrow morning.