The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A FORMER policeman told a murder trial yesterday of how he heard arguing before a gunshot rang out.

Joseph Ferguson had rented his apartment to a married couple for three years and went to visit the complex to do renovations on another unit. He said that around 4:30pm on April 19, 2010, he was resting when he heard what seemed to be an argument in the lower unit between his tenants, Mikiko and Leonardo Black.

Mr Ferguson said he heard “Mrs Black saying ‘You’re beating me and I’m telling you the truth!’” and “Mr Black was saying ‘I really don’t give a f*!’”

The contractor said he saw Mr Black leave after looking out of the window and return not long after when he asked for his gun.

He heard, minutes later, what sounded like a gun shot, followed by silence.

He went to lie down, but when he got back up sometime later he heard Mrs Black screaming,  “Nardo dead!”

As Mr Ferguson gave his evidence, Mikiko Black sat in the prisoner’s dock behind her lawyer, Moses Bain.

Shooting Death

The accused has denied the murder charge that she faces in the April 19, 2010, death of Leonardo Black.

The late-night incident happened at the couple’s apartment on the corner of Boil Fish Drive and Adderley Terrace, off Faith Avenue.

Police found the body of the 27-year-old marine with gunshot wounds to the left side of the face.

The accused was arraigned four days after the incident before Chief Magistrate Roger Gomez. She was not required to enter a plea to the charge.

In yesterday’s proceedings, prosecutors Anthony Delaney and Maria Zancolla called Constable Bruce Chisholm to the witness stand.

The officer testified that on April 20, 2010, he went to the Rand Morgue where, in the presence of Dr Caryn Sands, he photographed the body of a lifeless male with a wound to the left side of his face.

He then had negatives and photo enlargements produced at the Andrew Atkins lab.

The Crown then called Sgt Gardell Rolle, who said that on the day in question, April 19, he was on duty at the Carmichael Road police station when he received certain information and instructions and proceeded to an apartment on Boil Fish Drive. There he received additional information and instructions from a fellow officer.

He accompanied the officer inside the unit where he saw the lifeless body of a black male on the ground of the front room floor surrounded by blood. He also saw a silver blade knife in his hand and a wound to his face, also in blood. He went into the bedroom and saw shotgun on the bed.

He collected these items along with shotgun shells and submitted them to the police forensic laboratory for analysis.

Argument, Silence and ‘Gunshot’

Mr Ferguson was then called to the witness stand and questioned by Mr Delaney.

“Do you know the accused?” the prosecutor asked.

“Yes, she was a tenant in one of my apartment complex,” the witness answered.

“Do you know whether she resided alone?” the prosecutor asked.

“She resided along with her husband, Leonardo Black,” the contractor answered.

Mr Ferguson, before recalling the day in question, said he had known the Blacks for three years, having conversed with them from time to time during that period.

The contractor said on that day, April 19, he went to the apartment complex around 4:30pm “to complete some work on one of the units.”

“When I arrived, I went upstairs to do what I had to,” he said. “I went inside and decided I was going to take some rest before working.”

“But Mrs Black and her husband, they were having an argument,” he said.

Mr Delaney asked the witness where he was when this argument was taking place.

“I was in the unit above and they were downstairs,” Mr Ferguson said. He added that he could hear what was taking place because of the building material between the lower and upper units.

“Did anyone else live in the complex?” the prosecutor asked. Mr Ferguson said the Blacks were the only couple who lived there.

The contractor recalled what he had heard that day.

“I heard Mrs Black saying ‘you’re beating me and I’m telling you the truth.’ Mr Black was saying ‘I really don’t give a f* because I don’t care.’”

The witness said the argument lasted for 10 to 15 minutes before he heard Mr Black say “either you get the f out of here or I get the f out of here.”

The contractor said he looked out of the window and saw Mr Black leave. Mr Black returned about five minutes later. He went into the house and slammed the door.

“I then heard Mr Black ask ‘Where is my gun?’ I didn’t hear anything for about two to three minutes. Then I heard what appeared to be a single gun shot.”

He said the sound was muffled and sounded like a soda can. He “went to lay back down ’cause everything went quiet after that.”

Mr Ferguson said he got up 20 minutes later and heard the accused screaming, “Nardo dead! Nardo dead!”

“What happened after that?” the prosecutor asked.

“I went downstairs to see if it was really true,” the witness answered.

Going into the unit, he saw Mr Black lying on his back on the front room floor with an injury to his cheek.

Mr Ferguson said he had been a police officer for 25 years and had experience with crime scenes and was able to recognise the wound.

“What happened after that?” Mr Delaney asked.

“I asked Mrs Black how it happened. She said ‘we were fighting for the gun and it went off.’” Mr Ferguson said she told him that the gun was on the bed in the bedroom.

Tenant’s Affairs

The contractor was then cross-examined by Moses Bain, lawyer for the accused.

“What cause you to want to become concerned?” the lawyer asked.

“The confrontation between Mrs Black and her husband,” the witness answered.

“Would you say the Blacks were constantly fighting and arguing?” Mr Bain asked.

“I can’t really say because I didn’t live there,” Mr Ferguson replied.

“But you were aware,” the lawyer suggested.

“It was reported to me,” Mr Ferguson answered.

When asked if had ever spoken to the couple about their arguments, the contractor said he couldn’t recall having done so.

“Why didn’t you call the police after hearing such an argument?” the attorney asked.

“I never interfere with people’s personal lives to that extent,” Mr Ferguson replied.

Mr Bain asked the former officer of 25 years if he didn’t think it was his civic and moral duty to say something.

“It may have been, but like I said, I don’t get in any of my tenants’ affairs” he replied.

The trial resumes today before Justice Vera Watkins.