The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON


Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A POLICEMAN told the court he responded to a call about a suspect behind a shooting at Compass Point fleeing the area on a trail motorcycle.

Reservist police Constable 186 Perry Knowles said he was driving along West Bay Street coming from Lyford Cay when he observed a man on a trail motorcycle heading towards him at speed. He said he stopped the car, got out of the vehicle and motioned for the man to stop.

The man drove past him, leading to a pursuit.

As the officer gave his testimony about his actions the morning of April 22, 2009, 29-year-old Franklyn Stubbs sat in the prisoner’s dock behind his lawyer, Dorcee McPhee, listening.

Stubbs denies the murder of 55-year-old Hywel Jones, of West Bay Street.

Mr Jones had pulled up in the parking lot of his office when he was approached by a gunman and shot in the head as he was getting out of his Chevrolet Equinox.

Mr Jones was rushed to Doctors Hospital and died of his injuries two weeks later after being declared brain dead.
Stubbs was taken into custody a year later.

Prosecutors Darnell Dorsett and Basil Cumberbatch alleged he was the gunman in an “execution” killing.

Yesterday, officer Knowles told the court he received two transmissions from the the police control room regarding the incidnt.

The constable said he returned to the Lyford Cay Station for assistance from a colleague and proceeded along West Bay Street.

As he was heading east along West Bay Street, he said, “I observed a trail motorbike traveling west at a high rate of speed.”

“I brought the police vehicle to a stop and signalled to the rider with my hands to stop,” the court was told.

The officer said the rider put his hands up briefly before declaring he had done nothing and speeding off.

“I got back into the police vehicle, turned around and pursued him,” he said.

“He had on a white shirt with a green design on it, a low hair cut and he was slim built and a shade darker than me,” the officer said. He estimated the rider was 5’ 9” tall.

The officer said he pursued the rider along West Bay Street up the hill into Mt Plesant Village where he lost sight of the motor cycle for a short time. Descending the hill, he caught sight of the motorcycle on South Ocean Boulevard.

“I observed the motorcycle going around the curve, however, I never saw sight of it again,” the officer said.

In cross-examination, Mr McPhee asked the officer if the man on the motorcycle took his hands off the handle and put them to his face.

The officer said “yes.”

The jury asked the officer if he would he be able to recognise the rider again. He said he could not.
The trial resumes today.