Kevin October, one of the four men accused of murdering 72-year-old Clementine Fiedtkou-Parris, yesterday testified that he was in police custody at the time the crime was committed.
“Me aint know ’bout no murder. I was in police custody at the time of this murder,” the accused declared as he led his defence in unsworn testimony from the prisoner’s dock before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member jury at the High Court in Georgetown.
October is jointly charged with Roy Jacobs and brothers Orwin and Cleon Hinds and they have all pleaded not guilty.
The indictment against them is that on June 30th, 2011, they murdered Fiedtkou-Parris, pursuant to an arrangement whereby money was intended to pass from one person to another.
The elderly woman was gunned down at her Lot 42 Robb Street, Georgetown home.
According to October, on June 30th, he was in police custody in relation to another charge. He said that on October 31, 2011, while at the Camp Street Prison regarding that pending matter, the reception officer informed him that he had to attend the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts to answer a charge of murder.
October said that officers, whom he identified as “Caesar,” “Serrabo” and “Savory,” questioned him about Fiedtkou-Parris’ murder and he told them he knew nothing since he was in custody at the time.
October said he did not know his co-accused until they all appeared before the police and were charged with the offence.
“Sir, I’m innocent of this charge,” he told Justice Singh.
October’s attorney, Moti Singh, had indicated on Wednesday that his client would be calling witnesses to the stand. The lawyer, however, explained yesterday that they were unable to contact any.
Tortured
Meanwhile, Jacobs, who was said to have been identified by the now deceased brother of the victim as one of the persons who committed the crime, also maintained his innocence yesterday and claimed he had been tortured by police to sign a caution statement.
“I am here facing a murder charge I know nothing about. I am innocent of this charge,” Jacobs stressed during his unsworn statement.
He said after his arrest, police investigators put the allegation to him and he denied it. “I tell them me ain’t know bout no murder,” he said.
This accused added that he was questioned by officers, whom he identified as “Caesar,” “Serrabo” and “Melville.”
Jacobs’ story is that after he told the lawmen that he knew nothing about the murder, “Caesar seh to me that he does beat bad fuh get wah he want.” He added that the officers wrote something, but he could not tell what it was as he cannot read or write.
Jacobs said he repeatedly explained to the policemen that he knew nothing about the murder and, as a result, they started to beat him. He said Caesar retrieved a device from a desk drawer, telling him, “this hay [the device] name speak-the-truth.”
The device was used to deliver electrical shocks.
The accused said that they began shocking him about his body with the device, after which Serrabo punched him to his mouth. He said the officers then instructed him to sign a document which they had prepared and he was beaten when he refused to comply with their order.
According to Jacobs, because of the blows he was receiving, he eventually decided to sign the document. He said he was later placed on an identification parade, after which the investigators told him that he had been pointed out.
He too said that he did not know his co-accused prior to being arraigned.
Conscience
When the Hinds brothers led their defence on Wednesday they too testified that they signed statements prepared by the police, only because they had been badly beaten by the lawmen.
Also taking the stand yesterday was a witness called by Orwin Hinds. His ex-girlfriend, Adel Campbell, testified that on the night of the murder, Hinds was at home with her after they both attended a birthday lime.
She said that the accused was with her always on the night of the attack and did not leave the house after they had both returned home together after the lime.
Prosecutor Teshanna James-Lake suggested to Campbell that the only reason she was testifying on his behalf was because of her love and concern for him.
The witness, however, said that she had moved on with her life and was only testifying because she had a conscience and because she knew that Orwin was with her all the time on the night of the murder. She added that as a mother, she would appreciate if anyone did for her son, what she was doing for Orwin.
“I am just here doing a good deed. I have nothing to gain,” she declared when the prosecutor suggested to her that she was just trying to help Orwin”.
James-Lake further suggested to Campbell that she had fabricated the story about Orwin being at a party and later at home with her. The witness said that she was not fabricating the story, while maintaining that she had told the court exactly where she and Orwin were on the night in question, as she remembers it clearly.
Asked if she was ever called as a witness in the matter and why yesterday was the first time that she was saying that Orwin was with her all the time on the night of the murder, Campbell told James-Lake that she had told his then attorney Basil Williams that he was with her.
“The information was out there. I told Mr. Williams that he [Orwin] was with me all the time on that night,” Campbell declared. “It’s not my fault that I was never called as a witness,” she added.
She contended too that it was not her fault “if Mr. Williams did not use the information” that she supplied to him regarding Orwin’s whereabouts for the night of June 30, 2011.
The trial continues this morning at 9.
