The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

POLICE investigators told the Supreme Court in Grand Bahama yesterday that murder accused Paul Belizaire admitted he was with other co-defendants on the night of September 12, 2015, when a couple was shot dead at Deadman’s Reef.

Lead police investigator Sgt 772 Lorenzo Johnson and Detective Sgt 1843 Daryl Rolle of the Serious Crimes Section of the Central Detective Unit, said Belizaire told them he went to couple’s home for money, but he did not shoot them.

Belizaire told the officers that co-accused Devaughn Hall shot the victims and that he had tried to prevent the shooting.

Sgt Johnson conducted an interview and took a police statement from the accused on September 17, in the presence of Sgt Rolle.They said Belizaire had been cautioned during both instances.

Belizaire, Devaughn Hall, and Kevin Dames are on trial in the Supreme Court for the murders and armed robbery of Barry and Sheena Johnson of Deadman’s Reef.

Two other co-defendants Alan Alcime and Virgil Hall accepted plea deals and testified as witnesses for the prosecution and are serving time in prison for the armed robbery.

Sgt Johnson said that on September 13, 2015, he received a call from Det Supt Lloyd around 10.30am and proceeded to Deadman’s Reef, where he met a number of police officers and two doctors at the scene.

He said the body of a black male was lying on the ground outside a triplex apartment in front of apartment seven. The victim was wearing orange coveralls and black boots. He said the man had sustained a wound to the head and there was some dried blood under the the body.

Sgt Johnson was then directed to the opened door of the apartment where he saw the body of a female lying in the living room. He said the woman was wearing a blue and white striped shirt and blue underwear and had a wound to the head and right wrist.

He went to the master-bedroom and observed damage to the door and the frame. He said the scene was processed and the bodies were removed by morticians and transported to the Rand Memorial Hospital morgue. He said an Infiniti car in the parking lot registered to Barry and Sheena Johnson was towed to the police compound.

The lead investigator received a call on his police radio and proceeded to a dirt road north east of Warren Levarity Highway in the area of the container port. He said two police cars were at the scene, where a silver 2003 GMC truck, registered to Barry and Sheena Johnson, had been found.

The vehicle was processed, photographed and later towed to the police compound.

On September 14, 2015 Sgt Johnson said the bodies of Barry and Sheena Johnson were identified by their relatives at the hospital’s morgue and autopsies were conducted the next day by Dr Mandy Pedican.

Sgt Johnson said at 10.06pm on September 17 he went to the interview room at CDU, where he along with Sgt 1843 Rolle, saw Belizaire.

“I told him that he and others were suspected of the murders of Barry and Sheena Johnson on September 12, 2015 at Deadman’s Reef,” he said.

“He admitted to going to the residence that night to get the money but that he did not shoot anybody; that Devaughn shoot the people,” Sgt Johnson recalled.

Sgt Johnson said that he conducted a record of interview and took a police statement from the accused who had been cautioned. The accused read and signed the ROI and the statement.

He said that on September 18 sometime after 5pm, Belizaire directed he and several officers to areas he had talked about in the interview and in the statement.

The accused, he said, led them to Deadman’s Reef where he and others were dropped off on the night in question, then to apartment seven and to a bushy area southwest of the apartment where he and others hid until Mr Johnson arrived home.

Sgt Johnson said Belizaire then led them to a dirt road where they parked the truck before walking home.

He charged Belizaire and Devaughn Hall with one count of armed robbery and two counts of murder on September 19.

Sgt Johnson said he cautioned and interviewed Kevin Dames on September 24. According to the detective, Dames admitted taking Devaughn Hall, Alan Alcime, Virgil Hall and PJ, also known as Paul Belizaire, to Deadman’s Reef on the night of question to get the money. He dropped them off and went home.

He said that Dames read and signed both the record of the interview and the police statement he gave.

Dames, according to Sgt Johnson, took them on September 28 to the dirt road southwest of the Johnsons’ residence in Deadman’s Reef where he had dropped off the four men on September 12, 2015.

He charged Dames with one count of armed robbery and two counts of murder.

Sgt Johnson identified the three men seated the courtroom.

The trial resumes today when Johnson is expected to resume his testimony.