A witness yesterday told a court that she saw when murder accused Orin Jerrick threw punches at minibus driver Gavin Fiffee, who then armed himself with a cutlass and retaliated.
The witness for the prosecution, Roberta Stapleton, was at the time testifying at the trial of Jerrick, who is charged with murdering Fiffee.
The allegation against him is that on July 31, 2014, at the Plaisance bus park, located at the corner of Avenue of the Republic and Regent Street, in Georgetown, he murdered Fiffee. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Stapleton said she was familiar with Fiffee, who was a minibus driver, and had boarded his bus that day to travel home, and was on the park waiting for the vehicle to full, when the attack occurred.She said that after the accused punched Fiffee, he went into his bus and retrieved a cutlass, with which he started to broadside Jerrick. She added that at that point, Jerrick began barring the lashes with his hand. According to the witness, before the punches were thrown, the accused went up to Fiffee and said something to him. She said that while she could see them both speaking, she did not hear what was said.
Stapleton said that as Jerrick was being broadsided, he started moving backwards off Regent Street and more towards Avenue of the Republic. She told the court also that it was at that point that she saw the accused with what appeared to have been a knife in his hand.
The woman told the court that by that time the two had gravitated more to the side, rear of the bus, she kept turning in her seat to see what was transpiring. At this point, she said a crowd had gathered and just then she saw Fiffee clench towards the ground.
When asked under cross-examination by defence attorney Nigel Hughes, the witness said that when the accused started to punch Fiffee, he [Fiffee], had no blood on his shirt nor did she see Jerrick with anything in his hand. She answered counsel in the affirmative when asked if Fiffee immediately began broad-siding the accused once he had the cutlass.
The witness agreed with the suggestion from Hughes that up to the point when she saw the deceased clench, he had no blood on him, nor does she know what caused him to clench. When asked by counsel if she refused to attend an identification parade to which the police had invited her, Stapleton answered in the affirmative and went on to explain that she refused because her husband did not want her to get involved. She again agreed with a suggestion from counsel when asked if the first time she had identified the accused was in the docks at the magistrate’s court during the preliminary inquiry.
Asked if there were any distinguishing marks by which she was able to identify his client, the witness said Jerrick’s beard. Further quizzed as to whether he had a beard when she identified him at the Magistrates’ Court, Stapleton said she could not remember.
During re-examination by State Prosecutor Narissa Leander, the witness said that she was able to identify the accused in the docks at the magistrate’s court not because he was the only person seated therein, as Hughes opined, but because she “remembered his face well.”
The trial continues this morning.
Jerrick is on trial before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member jury at the High Court in Georgetown.
The state’s case is being led by Leander in association with prosecutors Siand Dhurjon and Michael Shahoud. Meanwhile, the accused is represented by Hughes, in association with attorneys Peter Hugh and Savannah Barnwell.
