The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A WITNESS' credibility and recollection of how businessman Kurt McCartney met his death was significantly challenged in Supreme Court on Friday by lawyers for those accused of the killing. 

The Crown's anonymous witness, who identified Thorne Edwards and and Okell Farrington in court as two of the individuals he saw in Gambier on October 24, 2013, was cross-examined extensively by attorneys Terrel Butler and Philip Hilton, who suggested to him that his "false" testimony was being given for a self-fulfilling purpose.

The witness "AB", who admitted that he had a criminal history, denied giving false evidence and maintained that he saw Edwards shoot McCartney while Farrington and two females got into the nearby Hummer and rolled over the victim and headed towards West Bay Street.

Edwards, 23, Farrington, 31, Lyndera Curry, 21 and Sumya Ingraham, 26, have been in custody since November 2013 awaiting trial for the murder and armed robbery of McCartney.

A fifth person, Terry Delancy, the owner of Virgo Car Rental, was charged with being an accessory after the fact and is on $15,000 bail.

Ian Cargill is representing Delancy while Sonia Timothy represents Curry.

Ingraham is represented by Romona Farquharson-Seymour.

Before witness "AB" was allowed to be cross-examined by defence counsel, the Crown called Yvette McCartney, who testified that she identified her brother at the morgue to a pathologist in the presence of family and the police.

The Crown then called Maxwell Pinder, a resident of Gambier, to the stand.

Pinder told prosecutor Roger Thompson that on the night in question, he and his fiancée were having dinner when he heard a loud bang. However, he paid no attention because children in the neighbourhood were playing with firecrackers at that time.

However, it was not until he heard a loud thump that he went outside his home to see what had occurred.

"I noticed someone lying on the ground. It was a bright male lying on the ground gasping for breath. I told my fiancée to call the police," the witness said.

Pinder said that he went to the Last Man Standing Bar and asked people about recent events. He then left the bar and walked down to where people were already gathering around the scene.

"I saw a pouch on the ground. I picked it up, took the phone out, the phone light up, I put it back," the witness said.

"Did you do anything with the phone?" the prosecutor asked.

"I wrapped the case in a brown bag and throw the phone over the fence in the yard," the witness said.

Pinder said he didn't see anyone outside the bar when he went there. He was asked how many people were in the bar and replied four to five. He said there were no credit cards in the pouch.

Mr Cargill suggested to the witness that he was going to take the phone for himself. Pinder said this was the case if no one had asked for it.

Mrs Farquharson-Seymour asked the witness if the phone was four feet away from the male lying in the road. "It was further than that," Pinder said.

When his statement to police was put to him, he agreed that the pouch was four feet from the body.

"Did you attempt to provide assistance?" the lawyer asked. Pinder said he did not.

"You even wiped your finger prints from it," the lawyer further probed. The witness said yes.

Witness "AB" was then cross-examined by Mr Hilton, who suggested that "you didn't know anyone by the name Okell Farrington before October 24, 2013."

"That's true," the anonymous witness said via videolink.

"How did you get to Gambier?" Mr Hilton asked. The witness said "I drove there."

Hilton asked him on what occasions he claimed to have seen his client.

"It was any part of August, September through the day time," the witness said.

"You had a conversation with him?" Mr Hilton probed.

"Once I think" the jury heard.

Mr Hilton suggested to him that this was false but "AB" maintained this was true.

The witness said he had driven to Gambier with three persons in a green Toyota Camry.

He claimed he was initially at a restaurant in Sandyport when he received a call from Thorne asking for a ride.

"Where did you park in Gambier?" Mr Hilton asked.

"A few feet from Last Man Standing Bar," the witness said, adding that he went inside after being seated in his car for 10 minutes.

"Did you know the owner of the bar?" the lawyer asked. The witness said no.

"How many persons were there?" the lawyer probed. Witness "AB" said "it was a good amount of people". He claimed to have seen nine individuals in the bar, two of whom were playing pool.

"The rest of the people were at the counter socialising I guess," the court heard.

The lawyer asked him if the person he knew as "Werm", and alleged was his client, was walking down the street with the man and the two women in the argument.

The witness said no.

The lawyer asked what he did after the shooting. "I went to my car, head south and went home," witness "AB" said.

"You didn't tell anybody?" Mr Hilton probed. The witness said he only told his brother when he got home. The witness claimed he was in fear for his life.

"Were you in custody?" the lawyer asked. The witness denied that he was arrested concerning this case.

Mr Hilton asked him if he was in custody on November 17, 2013. The witness said he was and clarified that his identification of Edwards and Farrington occurred four days earlier.

"You're known to police," Mr Hilton suggested to the witness. "Yes sir," the court heard.

"You've been charged and convicted of many offences," the lawyer suggested. The witness agreed but denied that he was a stranger to the truth. "I have no reason to lie to you" the witness said.

Ms Butler cross-examined the witness next and asked him what he was doing in Gambier that evening.

"I was asked by Thorne to drop some females up on that end, I was at Twisted Lime," the witness said.

Ms Butler suggested that Thorne Edwards never called him for a ride. Witness "AB" disagreed.

Butler suggested he was changing his story as he went along with his testimony but the witness said no.

"You said you went to Gambier with three persons," the lawyer suggested. "Thorne and the two girls," the witness answered.

Ms Butler asked for his statement to police to be put to him, the one he signed as being true and correct. "Does it say that you gave Thorne and two females a ride," the lawyer probed.

"No it doesn't," the witness answered.

"And today is the first time you say you dropped Thorne to Gambier," the lawyer suggested. "No madam," the witness answered.

"I'm suggesting you're not speaking the truth," Ms Butler said.

"I am. I told the police everything I saw," the witness said.

"I suggest to you, there's nothing in your statement about a dark girl and anybody having an argument," the lawyer suggested.

"No madam. Not in this statement," the witness answered.

"Nowhere does it mention anything about Thorne pushing the man and the man pushing Thorne," the lawyer further noted. "No madam," the court heard.

The lawyer further suggested his statement doesn't say he saw Thorne with a 9mm. "No madam. Just a handgun," the witness answered.

"What was the colour of the gun?" the lawyer probed. The witness said it was a dark colour but Ms Butler was not satisfied with the answer and asked again.

Witness "AB" said the gun was black. However, he accepted that his statement did not contain him saying he saw a black gun.

"I'm going to suggest to you you're not speaking the truth when you say you witnessed the shooting of Kurt McCartney," the lawyer said.

"Yes I did," the witness said.

"You never said that in your statement. In fact, you looked away so you couldn't have seen any shooting," the lawyer put to "AB".

The witness disagreed and his statement was put to him again concerning his alleged inconsistencies.

"Didn't you sign a copy of that statement?" Ms Butler asked.

"Yes," the witness said.

"Did anyone force you to sign it?" the lawyer asked. The witness said no.

"If the info is not true, why'd you sign it?" the lawyer asked, before further suggesting that his entire testimony of the events that night were a lie.

"I'm suggesting y'all trying to get me to lie for y'all clients who killed this innocent man," the court heard.

The case resumes on Monday before Senior Justice Stephen Isaacs.