At the trial of Nichola Joseph, who is accused of murdering her common-law husband Curtis McKinnon, a jury on Friday heard from police witness Lalbachand Dial that he was present at the station when the accused expressed remorse for killing the man.
According to Dial, a crime scene photographer, he was present at the station when Sergeant Singh cautioned Joseph and put the allegation to her that she had killed McKinnon. He said she replied, “Officer, I din meant to do that. I’m sorry. I wish I could turn back the hands of time. I did that because he hit me.”
Dial further told the court in his evidence-in-chief that when asked whether she wanted to put into writing what she had said, Joseph declined, saying that she wanted to first consult her lawyer.
During intense cross-examination, defence attorney Sonia Parag challenged the witness’s account, suggesting that he was not present at the station when her client was alleged to have made the oral statement to Singh to which Dial referred.
Dial, however, resolutely maintained that he was present.
Asked if he did not see her client with visible injuries on the exposed parts of her body, Dial told Parag that while he heard the statement which Joseph made to Singh, he was not really looking at her, with the exception of her face, upon which he saw no injuries.
Dial, who admitted to giving his statement in the matter some eight months after the alleged incident, was also quizzed as to whether there was a reason he had not given his statement earlier.
The witnesses, in response, said that he could not recall any reason for him giving his statement so long after.
Counsel pressed him extensively, suggesting that at the time that he gave his statement, he was merely relying on his memory of events which had transpired some eight months before. He agreed with the defence’s suggestion that during the time that had elapsed, persons generally tend to forget things, but added that he was relying on notes which he had recorded in his personal police pocket book.
Asked the whereabouts of that book, Dial said he could not say offhand. He explained that when one becomes full, he gets a new one in which he continues his work.
Parag made a successful application to the court to have Dial recalled to present that book and recorded entries he said he made at the station.
Justice Jo-Ann Barlow, who is presiding over the trial, ordered Dial to return with the book this morning at 9 when the trial continues.
The photos which Dial said he took at the scene were all tendered and admitted into evidence.
When the indictment was presented to Joseph at the commencement of her trial earlier this week, she pleaded not guilty.
Representing the state are prosecutors Siand Dhurjon and Tamieka Clarke, who have already called three of their eight witnesses. The trial is being heard at the High Court in Georgetown.
