The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

MOMENTS after telling a jury of the last time she saw Marco Archer alive, a relative of the young murder victim was accused by defendant Kofhe Goodman’s attorney of covering up the “true story” of what happened to the boy.

Valkeisha Archer testified yesterday afternoon that on September 23, 2011, her brother Marco came to her Claridge Road home around 4pm where he changed his clothes, used the rest room and then told her goodbye for the last time before leaving for Brougham Street, where he lived.

She told prosecutor Neil Braithwaite that the family’s efforts to find Marco were unsuccessful.

However, defence attorney Geoffrey Farquharson suggested to the prosecution’s witness that she was trying to cover up the “true story” of what happened on that day.

The witness answered that she would never do such a thing.

“I put it you that something terrible happened at your house to this child,” the attorney suggested.

“Never that,” the sister exclaimed. “It’s not true. Nothing could ever happen to Marco at my house.”

The defendant Goodman sat in prisoner’s dock throughout the afternoon session as the relative gave her testimony and was cross-examined.

Murder charge and sister’s testimony

Goodman, 37, of Yorkshire Drive, faces a murder charge which he denies. It is claimed that between September 23 and 28 of 2011, he intentionally and unlawfully caused the death of Marco Archer, who disappeared from Brougham Street and was found dead days later.

In yesterday’s proceedings, Valkeisha Archer was called to the witness stand and questioned by Mr Braithwaite about her involvement in the matter in question.

The prosecutor asked the 31-year-old where she resided on September 23, 2011. She answered: “Claridge Road.”

When asked if she had any brothers, she said three – Tino, Rico and Marco Archer.

Mr Braithwaite asked her if Marco came to her house on that day. She replied: “Yes”.

“He came to my residence after school,” she said, adding that he then took off his clothes and used the rest room for five minutes before exiting and putting back on his clothes.

“I ask him ‘where are you going?’,” Ms Archer said, testifying that his reply was that he was going home to Brougham Street.

“He left like 4.30,” she added.

“Did he go alone, ma’am?” the prosecutor asked.

“No, with my son” she answered, explaining that her son took Marco to a 15A jitney.

“Ma’am, did you ever see your brother alive again?” Mr Braithwaite asked.

Ms Archer then told the court that sometime later, around 9pm, her mother and sister (Tanzia Humes) came to her house asking if she saw Marco.

“I ask her if he didn’t come home from here (Claridge Road)” the court heard. The sister testified that her mother said Marco came home, but she sent him to a store and he never came back.

She told the court that upon her mother and sister leaving, she began crying, only for her other sister, LaSummer Archer, to arrive, though she didn’t stay long.

Valkeisha Archer said she left her Claridge Road home and went to Brougham Street to help her family look for Marco, adding that they looked on his home street, Peter Street and a place called ‘The Farm’ – posting up pictures of him as they went along searching.

“Did you at any point find Marco?” the prosecutor asked.

“No sir,” she answered.

Cover-up accusations

During cross-examination, Mr Farquharson asked the witness if she was with her family when they went to the morgue.

“Yes, sir,” she said.

“At the morgue, were you shown a corpse?” the attorney asked. Ms Archer replied: “No.”

She told the court that she didn’t go in to view the body because she was pregnant at the time.

Mr Farquharson then shifted his questioning to her evidence of Marco coming to her house, suggesting this testimony was not true.

“No, sir,” she answered

“I put it to you that Marco Archer was at your mother’s house,” the attorney said.

“No, sir. He was there four o’clock,” Ms Archer answered.

“Furthermore, when you tell this jury he changed clothes, that is a lie,” the attorney said.

She said it was not.

“You recalled that it rained quite heavily that Friday?” Mr Faruqharson asked her. She said yes.

She said she could not recall if his clothes were wet or dry, but knew that he placed socks on the clothes line because he had told her so when he was leaving.

After contesting her evidence about the length of time Marco was in the bathroom and whether he was feeling sick, the attorney then asked her if she recalled telling the police that he went in her sister’s room for five to 10 minutes.

She said she never told them this, but after her witness statement was put to her, she admitted that she recalled saying this at the time.

“Did you tell the police your brother was feeling sick?” the attorney asked.

“I told them loose stomach,” she answered.

Mr Faruqharson suggested to her that she was lying to the court “through your teeth”.

Her response was “No, sir.”

She also denied his next suggestion – that she told her sister, Tanzia, that she hadn’t seen Marco.

“I never told that to my sister because I didn’t speak with my sister. I spoke to my mother,” she answered.

“You say as soon as they left, you started to cry?” the attorney asked.

She answered “yes” and he then asked “Cry about what?”

“He’s not a roamer. He would not go wondering about,” she said.

“Where is this farm you went to?” the attorney asked.

“I can’t recall but I know we went to the farm,” she responded.

“I put it to you that the farm you went to was on Marshall Road,” the attorney said.

He suggested she went there because she thought Marco might be there. She agreed.

Mr Farquharson went back to her evidence about the wet socks and suggested that she never saw him put socks on the line.

Ms Archer answered that Marco told her he had done so and that her brother did not lie for “petty things”.

“He’s a sweet little boy,” she added.

Mr Farquharson again suggested that Marco was at his mother’s house after school and the witness again disagreed. “If he went there (Brougham Street), my mother would give me a call to let me know he was coming,” she added.

“Why’d you make up this story to tell the police?” the attorney asked.

“I did not make up no story,” she answered, adding that her story was “the truth”.

Mr Farquharson suggested to the witness that she was trying to cover up the “true story” of what happened on that day.

The witness answered that she would never do such a thing.

“I put it you that something terrible happened at your house to this child,” the attorney suggested.

“Never that,” the sister exclaimed. “It’s not true. Nothing could ever happen to Marco at my house.”

“What happened to this child?” the attorney asked Valkeisha Archer.

“I wish I could say. He went missing and we never see him again,” she answered.

“Did he do anything to upset you?” the attorney asked.

‘The only thing he do is leave us,” she answered, her eyes getting more teary with each question.

“Did you lose your patience and strike him?” Mr Farquharson asked.

Ms Archer said this never occurred.

He asked her why she had burst out crying when she did not know about the circumstances of the situation.

“Because that’s my brother. I love him,” she answered.

“What did you do to this child?” the attorney asked him. “I love him. I love him too much that’s what I did,” she answered.

The trial resumes today before Justice Bernard Turner.

Garvin Gaskin, deputy director of public prosecutions, with assisting prosecutors Mr Braithwaite and Darrell Taylor, represent the Crown.