A police prosecutor yesterday testified that he only learnt of statements made by Constable John Holder recanting his original evidence against attempted murder accused Maryann Daby after they were disclosed by the woman’s lawyer.
Police Prosecutor 13114 Richard Harris, who is stationed at the Brickdam Police Station and attached to the Court Superintendent’s Office and deployed to the chambers of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), made this admission while he was under cross-examination by Holder’s attorney, Stephen Roberts.
Holder is on trial before Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus on a charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice in Daby’s trial.
Roberts questioned Harris about Holder’s statements, which were tendered and marked G1 and G2, and dated August 10th, 2018 and August 12th, 2018, respectively, where Holder recanted what he would have said in his original statement.
Asked if those statements were disclosed to him prior to the start of Daby’s trial on August 14th, Harris stated that they were not and added that he would have gained knowledge of the statements when they were disclosed by Daby’s attorney, Mark Waldron, during the trial.
Harris, when asked if he would have questioned why the prosecution was not given the statements, stated that he did question the incident and spoke to officers Suraj Singh and Germaine Laundry in relation to the matter. The witness related that he was told that Holder was to give a video interview recanting his story and that advice was being sought in relation to charges being brought against him.
Not satisfied with the answer, Roberts then asked Harris directly if he has a reason why the statements weren’t given to him before the commencement of Daby’s trial. Harris said he did not.
Earlier in his evidence-in-chief, Harris stated that on August 14th, 2018, the case of attempted murder against Daby commenced before Magistrate Leron Daly with Holder giving evidence. He noted that prior to Holder’s testimony, he would have refreshed him from his statements and during that time the Constable would not have indicated that there was a variance in his statement.
Giving sworn evidence-in-chief, Holder, according to Harris, began to deviate from his original statement and was immediately stopped. After making a request to have Holder’s first statement, dated May 13th, 2018, Harris stated that when he indicated that Holder had deviated from it and the man then explained that he gave the first statement because he wanted to support his colleague, who was the complainant in the attempted murder case, and due to his loyalty to the police force.
Harris went on to state that he then made an application for Holder to be deemed a refractory witness, which resulted in Holder being remanded to prison for seven days. On August 23rd, 2018, Harris stated that when Holder returned to court, he maintained the same course he previously held and was further remanded to prison.
Holder was later brought back to court on September 6th, 2018 and he continued his evidence-in-chief in accordance with the statements he provided.
Harris told the court that it was under cross-examination by Waldron on that date that Holder admitted that he lied in his statement that he would have submitted to the police. When asked to explain, Holder stated that he was instructed to do so by his superior, whom he later identified as Gary McAllister.
The court heard from the witness that Holder indicated under cross-examination that he was summoned to McAllister’s office, where he saw him in possession of Daby’s file and he was instructed to go and change his story.
It was on October 4th, 2018, Harris stated, that Holder, still under cross-examination, was asked if what he was told by McAllister, if he reported it to anyone. He (Holder) said “No this is the first time I’m saying it in this court,” the court heard.
The court later heard testimony from Sergeant 19822 Komal Pitama, who is stationed at the Criminal Investigation Department and attached to the Major Crimes Investigations Unit.
He was also cross-examined by Roberts.
The trial is expected to continue today.
