Anthony De Paul Hope, called “Papa,” was implicated by one of his co-accused in the murder of his aunt Colleen Forrester, a jury heard yesterday after the caution statement of Ralph Tyndall was admitted into evidence at the men’s trial.
Hope, Tyndall and Kevin O’ Neil are on trial for the murder of Forrester, who they allegedly killed between December 27th, 2007 and January 6th, 2008 at Lot 55 William Street, Campbellville.
In a caution statement, which was read by Sergeant Nigel Stephens, Tyndall stated that around midday on December 26th, 2007, he went to visit his friend Hope at the Lot 55 William Street address. There, he saw O’ Neil.
He indicated that Hope and O’Neil left him at the house to go to the Main Street Lime. He said they returned around 10:30PM.
Tyndall stated that shortly after they returned, Hope’s aunt, Forrester— who was the caretaker of the property—and a girl arrived at the house. He said Hope related to him that Forrester did not want anyone else in the house and so the man was forced to hide him under the bed and then in a wardrobe.
He stated that while he was in the wardrobe, he heard a “knocking” and when he emerged from his hiding place he saw Hope standing over his aunt with a short fat stick in his hand. “I saw Papa over his auntie with a short fat stick… sitting on his auntie. I see blood on Papa and his auntie skin,” Tyndall said in the statement.
He added that he walked out of the bedroom and went down the stairs to tell O’Neil what he had seen. “Look wah Papa do upstairs boy. He kill his auntie,” he stated before noting that O’Neil left him and went upstairs.
Tyndall’s statement said that shortly after he left the premises and went home. But the next morning, he said he received a call from Hope, who said he and O’Neil had disposed of the body in the septic tank in the yard. “When I went to see Papa he told me the same story,” he added.
Attorney Madan Kissoon, who is representing the interest of Tyndall, suggested that there was nothing that Sergeant Stephens did to question whether Tyndall’s statement was a lie. Stephens, nevertheless, indicated that he did not believe someone would lie on themselves in such a grave situation.
Sergeant Stephens was the police officer who assisted in the investigation of Forrester’s murder. He was also the officer who took the statement from Tyndall.
Meanwhile, Nikita Semple, Forrester’s granddaughter, who was cross-examined yesterday, stated that she never saw O’Neil enter the house after her grandmother had sent her to fetch water from downstairs.
Semple, while giving evidence on Wednesday, had testified that after she and her grandmother went to the William Street property on December 27th, the woman sent her downstairs to fetch water and O’Neil volunteered to help. But while she was going down the stairs, she said, she heard a scream and started to run back up the stairs. “I went to the back door and turn the lock but the door was closed. I then went back downstairs to the front door and turned the lock but it was closed too,” she said, before adding that O’Neil told her that everyone might be cleaning and not want them upstairs.
Under cross-examination by O’Neil’s lawyer, George Thomas, Semple stated that at no time did O’ Neil stop her from going into the house after she heard the scream. She said he remained at the pipe filling the buckets with water.
She also stated that after she heard the scream, O’Neil did not leave her to go upstairs. Later, when Hope eventually opened up the locked back door and instructed her to go buy sugar and cigarettes, O’Neil followed her to the shop.
Semple had testified that Hope had told her that her grandmother had left to go to Trinidad. She said he told her this when she returned from the shop, some 25 minutes later.
She stated that she did not tell a neighbour she stayed at anything, including Hope’s claim about her grandmother leaving to go to Trinidad, because she had trusted what her cousin had said.
She also stated that O’ Neil and her grandmother did not have any quarrel that night.
Semple, who was 12-years-old at the time of the murder, had also testified that she saw fresh blood running down Hope’s ankle and Tyndall’s knees. Also, she stated that there was blood on a mattress and her bath towel.
On January 6th, 2008, Semple went with her father, Lennox Semple, and her uncle to the Kitty Police Station and the Alberttown police stations to file a missing person report.
Police eventually discovered Forrester’s body in the septic tank in the yard of the William Street property and Hope and O’Neil were immediately investigated.
Former crime scene detective Erwin Trotman had also testified that Hope led him to what was believed to be the murder weapon that killed Colleen Forrester. He said the wood, measuring approximately 19cm, was retrieved some 15m away, southeast of where the septic tank was located.
The trial, which is being presided over by Justice Roxane George, continues on Monday.
