The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A POLICEMAN told a Supreme Court jury that it took him ten minutes to arrive at the scene of a man lying on a golf cart during the early morning hours.

Corporal Benjamin Moss of the Alice Town Police Station in Bimini said he asked the “dark skinned male” what had happened to him.

“He said to me in a low voice, ‘I got shot,’” the policeman told the jury.

As the court heard this, Floridian Daniel Ayo sat in the prisoner’s dock listening to the testimony of Cpl Moss.

Ayo faces a charge of murder where it is claimed that he, on May 12, 2010 in Bimini, caused the death of Jamaican Clyde Tomlison.

Tomlison was shot around 2am on the day in question and died shortly after the 
incident in a government clinic.

The American denies the charge.

Prosecutor Linda Evans continued with her examination of the witness, asking him to recall if he could, his involvement in the case in question.

The policeman told the court he was on the 12am-8am shift that day and around 2am, received a phone call from Julie Dean, who gave him certain information.

He got into a vehicle and proceeded to the scene where he found a “dark skinned male lying on a golf cart.”

“I asked him what had happened to him and he said to me in a low voice ‘I got shot.’”

“His clothing was covered in what appeared to be blood,” he added.

“Do you recall what he was wearing,” prosecutor Evans asked.

“No, ma’am,” the policeman replied.

Cpl Moss and a colleague of his put the man on the back of a police truck and took him to a government clinic five minutes away from where they found him.

He was put on a stretcher and taken inside the clinic where two nurses tended to him, however, “they were unsuccessful and he later succumbed to his injuries.”

“I then made a check of his body where it appeared that he suffered from a gunshot wound to his upper right back.”

Cpl Moss said he collected “a silver chain and $750 U.S currency from his right front pocket” before the man was put in the morgue.

After leaving the morgue, Moss said he and colleagues returned to the scene where he had found the injured person.

“Was there anything of note on the scene,” Ms Evans asked.

“Just blood,” the officer answer.

The officer said he collected other items from the scene that included a “pocket knife, two condoms, a cigarette lighter and a pair of Lacoste tennis shoes.”

Cpl Moss said there was blood stains on the shoes and on the seat of the golf cart.

After speaking to a “Mr Holland Bean about what he would’ve heard and saw” prior to their arrival, he and his colleagues, Sgt Lockhart and Insp Checkley, executed a search warrant on a yacht in the Bimini Bay area called “Bluewaves.”

“Three Caucasian males were present. The vessel was searched, a firearm was found and the men present were later arrested,” he added.

Prosecutor Evans asked the officer if he knew the deceased, Tomlison, up to the time of his death.

“I’d seen him from time to time, yes, ma’am,” he answered, continuing that Tomlison “worked at a car wash opposite the Big Game Hotel, a minute from the police station.”

He said that at no point of knowing the deceased had he any reason to arrest him.

“Do you know what became of the other items that were collected,” Ms Evans asked the witness.

“No, ma’am,” he said.

In cross-examination, defending attorney, Wayne Munroe asked the corporal who took possession of the items collected at the scene.

“Sgt Lockhart,” the officer answered.

“Did he (the man) have one pants?” Mr Munroe asked.

“Yes, sir,” Cpl Moss said.

“What about shoes?” The attorney then asked.

“No, sir,” the policemen answered, adding that the shoes were found on the side of the golf cart.

“So it would be fair to say all of these items were found in the same general area?” Mr Munroe asked.

“Yes, sir,” the Bimini policeman replied.

Referring to the policeman’s evidence concerning the occupation of the deceased, Mr Munroe asked the witness if the car wash was “organized.”

“It was an organized car wash,” the officer responded.

“Who owned the car wash?” Mr Munroe then asked. “I don’t know,” Cpl Moss answered.

“How much did you know about this young man?” the attorney asked the witness.

“Not much,” Mr Moss answered.

“So it would be fair to say that the only thing you knew about him was that he washed cars?” the attorney asked.

“Yes,” the corporal replied.

The trial resumes today.