Superintendent Gary McAllister, the detective who gave conflicting testimony during the preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the attempted murder charge against Maryann Daby earlier this year, amended his account once again when he took the witness stand last week in her trial on charges of having unlawful possession of a pistol and ammunition.
The two current charges against Daby state that on May 13th, 2018, at Albert Street and Thomas Lands, Georgetown, she had a .32 pistol and six .32 rounds in her possession without being the holder of a firearm licence.
Her trial is being conducted by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly in Georgetown.
During his testimony, McAllister told the court when he and other ranks went to the home of Daby after she allegedly attempted to murder a policeman, he marked the firearm in her presence. His testimony was different to what he said during the PI into the attempted murder charge. During the attempted murder PI, McAllister failed to mention to the court that he marked the gun in Daby’s presence. He said that after receiving the report of the alleged attempted murder of a police officer, he went to the home of Daby and after putting the allegation to her, she allegedly said, “Officer I fire a round from my licenced firearm after a DEA officer was following me.” His testimony ended at that point and he had not mentioned that he marked the firearm in Daby’s presence.
The amendment in his testimony did not go unnoticed by defence attorney Mark Waldron, who immediately brought it to the court’s attention and further stated that the weapon was not marked in his client’s presence. To ensure what the lawyer saying was true, the court’s recording of what transpired during the PI was read, proving that McAllister did indeed change his testimony.
After McAllister completed his testimony, Prosecutor Richard Harris asked the court’s permission to tender the evidence bag as part of the prosecution’s case. However, Waldron, who was examining the evidence bag, noted that the bag had several staples on the seal and an extra label was hanging off one end, which was not there when the bag was shown during the PI. As a result, he objected to the bag being tendered, saying that it has been tampered with.
Harris, however, said that he was sure that there was no tampering with the evidence bag, only to be proven wrong when another witness went into the witness box to testify. The issue led to an argument between the defence and the prosecution for a few minutes before the visibly frustrated magistrate said, “It is extremely disappointing. I find that the prosecution is trying to lie to the court. I am upset from what is coming from the prosecution table. Present what you have there is no need to manipulate the evidence.”
The prosecutor then called Constable Kevin Thomas to give evidence in the matter so as to prove that the evidence bag was not tampered with. Thomas told the court that he is stationed at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and attached to the firearm and ammunition section. He said that in order for him to examine the contents of the evidence bag, he cut the bottom of the bag so the seal would remain intact.
A visibly shocked Harris immediately said he did not hear what the witness said, much to the annoyance of the magistrate, who repeated what Thomas said. She subsequently adjourned the matter until November 15th and told the prosecutor to lay over submissions as to why the evidence bag should be submitted into evidence on the same date.
Daby was freed of an attempted murder charge in July after Magistrate Daly ruled that the prosecution’s case was not credible. A month before the charge against Daby was dismissed, the conflicting testimony of McAllister resulted in a stalling of the PI into the attempted murder charge against Daby.
