The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A Supreme Court jury was shown footage from Marina Village cameras of the Halloween night when two Atlantis security guards were shot while on duty.

Yesterday, as footage was shown to the jury of the busy village, 22-year-old Clarence Smith and 20-year-old Bashard Seymour sat in the prisoner’s dock as an Atlantis staff member went through the clips with the court.

Smith and Seymour are facing two charges of attempted murder. It is claimed that they, on October 31, 2009, tried to kill Dwayne De Costa, 46, and 33-year-old Troy Feaste.

Both accused have denied the charges against them.

In yesterday’s proceedings, an Atlantis employee who downloaded the footage of that night to a compact disc for the court to see, took the witness stand.

Prosecutor Jillian Williams, who was assisted by Raquel Whyms and Paul Jones, asked the employee how the file (footage) was downloaded to the CD.

“It’s computer generated,” the employee answered, explaining that the footage is saved to the computer and persons interested in looking at a certain timeline of the footage could simply enter a date and time in the system.

“Is there a number of filed on the CD?” the prosecutor asked.

“Yes,” the employee said.

“Are you able to give an approximation of when the particular file was recorded?” Ms Williams asked.

“It was recorded in the night. The file reflects 21.30 to 22.10 in its entirety,” the employee answered.”

Nine clips, some in black and white and others in colour, were then shown to the court, excluding two still shots of two males at two points during the recorded footage.

In the first clip, which showed the entrance into Marina Village coming from the direction of Scotia Bank, the employee at the direction of the prosecutor, pointed out two males in the footage.

One of the males was wearing a horizontal striped shirt and the other a plain shirt, the employee said.

Smith’s attorney, Murrio Ducille, objected. He said that the employee was not a live witness to the case in question and had only downloaded the footage.

Cheryl Bazard, who represents Seymour, agreed with Mr Ducille’s submission and added that they were all watching the video footage which would speak for itself.

Prosecutor Williams counter argued that the witness would not be implicating or identifying anyone, only what she sees in the video.

Senior Justice Jon Isaacs allowed the employee to state her observations in the various clips. Clip two showed a back view of the two males walking further into Marina Village while the third showed a closer frontal view of the second clip where the men were behind Marina Village shops.

Clips four and five showed the two males and others in the area of the stairs. Footage six showed the two trekking into the marina basin and the following clip is a facial view of the two males walking in the basin.

Clips eight and nine showed the two males running away from the entrance of Marina Village.

In cross-examination, Mr Ducille asked the employee: “Were you able to see the hair style of any of the two men?”

“No sir,” the employee answered.

Mr Ducille had no further questions.

Ms Bazard asked the witness if she agreed that the videos, “for the most part, are very dark?”

“For the hour of the night, they are normal,” the employee answered, adding that she was used to looking at that kind of lighted footage.

Ms Bazard was not satisfied. She pointed to the still shot of the two men running away from Marina Village.

“Isn’t that very dark?” the attorney asked.

“Yes, it is dark,” the employ replied.

“You cannot see any facial features in these videos can you?” the attorney asked.

“No, ma’am” the employee answered.

The trial resumes today.