Final arguments by both sides in sailor’s court-martial Wednesday

Closing arguments are to be made Wednesday as the court-martial of 33-year-old Private Shane Coulthrust, accused of bribery and drug conspiracy nears its end.

Private Coulthrust is facing 12 charges of misconduct in his actions while on duty on April 19, 2019.

When the matter continued at the Barbados Defence Force St Ann’s Fort headquarters on Tuesday, Queen’s Counsel Andrew Pilgrim, who is representing the sailor, was successful in his objection to lead investigator, Sub-Lieutenant Alexander Kellman, reading a number of statements Coulthrust purportedly made to him and recorded in the officer’s notebook.

Pilgrim had submitted that if the court-martial was guided by the Evidence Act, an audio or video recording of his client’s statements should have been made.

He argued that in the absence of those recordings, those oral statements should not be allowed.

BDF prosecutor Captain Neville Corbin contended that the statements had been taken in accordance with military law.

But at the start of Tuesday’s proceedings, the Judge Advocate, Lieutenant Commander Rita Evans, ruled that oral or written testimony by the accused was inadmissible in accordance with the Evidence Act.

At the end of the hearing, which saw eight witnesses take the stand, the prosecution closed its case.

Among those taking the stand were Ordinary Seamen Jamal Simmons and Omar Gollop who allegedly received “hush money” from Coulthrust.

Coulthrust, whose case is being heard by a four-member panel of senior military officers headed by Lieutenant Commander Fernella Cordle, is accused of collecting 14 polythene packages while he was in charge of the Barbados Coast Guard vessel HMBS Endurance and placing them on the boat without lawful authorisation.

He is also charged with transporting the packages to Six Men’s, St Peter and transferring them to a fishing boat that was moored in the area.

The private is also accused of linking up with a speedboat in Barbados’ territorial waters without permission; paying another Coast Guard crewman Ordinary Seaman Jamal Simmons some $2,200 not to report the transport of the packages aboard the Endurance from the speed boat to the fishing vessel at Six Men’s the day before.

The court-martial also heard that Private Coulthrust paid crewman Omar Gollop $2,500 as “hush money” while they were at HMBS Pelican Coast Guard headquarters. The BDF alleges that the money was a bribe for Gollop not to report the offences now before the military tribunal.

He is also being asked to answer an allegation that on April 16, 2019, while he was at Upper Weston, St James he was paid a bribe of $5,000 by a civilian named “Bones to use HMBS Endurance to collect and transport the packages to the fishing boat anchored at Six Men’s.

He is further charged that while he was in Bridgetown eight days later, he received $5,000 from another civilian, Corey Watts, as final payment for transferring the contraband from the Coast Guard vessel to the fishing boat. (RB)