The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

THE man accused of killing a former Burger King manager he planned to seduce and rob, told a jury yesterday he confessed to murder and other related charges because police brutalised him.

Simeon Bain, 41, of Joe Farrington Road, elected to give sworn testimony after Crown prosecutors closed their case against him.

Bain not only denied the charges, but said that on the day in question, he went to the police to report his car as stolen and added that when he went into the Central Detective Unit on New Years Eve 2009, he was brutalised by police.

Prosecutor Darnell Dorsett suggested to the accused that he was lying, as he had never disputed the evidence of the key witness, who testified that Bain became interested about her friend who dressed in ‘drag’.

“She told you he was naturally gay,” the prosecutor suggested to Bain.

“We never had that conversation,” Bain claimed.

Allegations and

circumstances

Bain faces charges of murder, robbery, attempted robbery, housebreaking, and kidnapping in connection with the September 19, 2009 death of 21-year-old Rashad Morris.

Morris was kidnapped from the Charlotte Street branch of Burger King and taken to the highway branch, where he had been the manager.

He was ordered to open the safe and after failing to do so, was stabbed in the restaurant’s parking lot.

Bain denies the charges and is defending himself.

Prior to yesterday’s evidence from the accused, the court has heard from his girlfriend that Bain was “liking a boy” at the branch, planned to rob him and had gone to BaTelCo to buy a cellphone chip to text Rashad Morris – whom she also knew as “Shanti” – under the name “Dwayne”.

The witness said she was at the apartment when Bain pulled up with Morris and that she saw the two drive off some time later.

Bain was wearing a black jean jacket, black jeans, a beige shirt and tennis shoes, the witness said, adding that he also had on beige gloves and a tam.

Bain later returned to the apartment and told her that he had stabbed Rashad, she said.

Bain disputes evidence

and confession

Bain yesterday told Justice Indra Charles he intends to call a number of witnesses.

Testifying about the day in question, the accused said he woke up on September 20 and realised his car was missing. He contacted his cousin Marvin for a ride to make a report, but the cousin, according to Bain, indicated that he would send someone in his stead as he was on his way to work.

The accused said he walked around the Haitian Village, then made a second call to his cousin. The person sent to pick him up eventually arrived and Bain said he went to the police station to file a report.

“That’s all that happened on that day,” he said.

Speaking about his encounter with a police investigator at his job on Paradise Island, Bain said the officer approached him about a stolen phone and began questioning him.

Bain claimed he told the investigator that he got the phone from a woman he was acquainted with in the past and passed the phone off to his then-girlfriend, (the prosecution’s key witness).

Bain said he was called into CDU on December 31, 2009 and asked about the cellphone inside a room with a number of officers.

“I said it was lost,” Bain said.

Bain said this is when the beating occurred. The accused claimed that he was ordered to kneel, had his hands cuffed behind his back, and had a plastic bag wrapped around his head on numerous occasions.

He also claimed that one officer beat him about the body with a baseball bat and after the beating, he was forced to give a confession.

Cross-examination

During cross-examination, Crown prosecutor Darnell Dorsett asked the accused if he met his girlfriend at a Burger King Drive through. He said he did.

However, when asked if he recalled being in bed with her when ‘Shanti’ contacted her about his promotion, Bain said he was always in bed with her but no such phone call ever took place in his presence.

“Did you put it to her that she lied?” the prosecutor asked.

“She lied that we never had sex,” Bain answered.

“You became curious about the man dressed in drag, her boy ‘Shanti’. You never recall that?” the prosecutor asked.

“Never,” Bain said.

“She told you he was naturally gay,” the prosecutor suggested to Bain.

“We never had that conversation,” he said.

The prosecutor further suggested that he asked his girlfriend if Rashad had the combinations to the safe and was present when they conversed about the promotion over the phone.

Bain disagreed with these suggestions, and with the prosecutor’s assertion that he told his girlfriend he was planning to rob the restaurant around Christmas.

“Your Christmas came early for you,” the prosecutor suggested.

“I don’t celebrate holidays,” Bain answered.

“You pretended to be ‘Dwayne’ in order to get Rashad interested in you,” the prosecutor further suggested.

Bain said “No.”

Bain also denied giving his girlfriend keys to her car and telling her to get lost after he brought Rashad to his apartment.

“So she was lying? Did you put it to her?” the prosecutor asked.

“No I did not” Bain answered.

After suggesting to the accused that he left with Rashad after the car was returned, the prosecutor put it to him that his girlfriend found him in the restroom washing away blood.

“No,” Bain said.

“You had his Blackberry on you,” the prosecutor further suggested.

Bain again denied this, and also denied the assertion that he made a false report to police about his car being stolen to cover his tracks.

He further denied that he was making up his claims about police brutality.

“Mr Bain, you’re lying to this court” the prosecutor suggested. The accused man disagreed.

The trial resumes today at 10am.