River Van Stand Murder: Twin brother among two to testify

The twin brother of murder-accused Jamar Watson and another witness, Carey Miller, gave testimony on Wednesday in the No. 4 Supreme Court in the River Van Stand murder trial.

Watson, 36, of School Gap, Hindsbury Road, is charged with killing Kemar Gooding, of Ellerton, St George, on March 27, 2018.

Miller told the 12-member jury that he was at the Constitution River Van Stand that morning and was standing at a shop when a young lady and a gentleman with an infant joined him and several other persons who were already there. He said the accused came from the direction of the terminal, which was then under construction and called one of the men at the shop an “a *****hole”, and a man he knew as Merciless responded in a similar nature.

He said the accused man walked back and forth between the terminal and past the shops, and there were multiple heated exchanges between the accused and Merciless. Miller testified that during the accused’s final pass, he bounced the man who had been holding the child, as he leaned on the shop’s table.

He recalled: “After he bounce the guy, the guy took aim with a [beer] bottle and pelt it at him. The gentleman run off, take up a piece of asphalt and pelt in the direction of the man. Merciless and about four or five other fellows took chase. I sat there, and I hear two large commotions, then I saw Merciless running in the direction of town and then I saw him running come back up with a police officer.”

He told Deputy Director of Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC that he was not in the group of men who gave chase.

Defence attorney Safiya Moore asked the witness if he saw anyone running with weapons, and he replied in the negative. Asked specifically about the accused, the witness testified: “I never saw him with a knife. All I saw was he pick up a piece of asphalt and throw it.” He also rejected her suggestion that the group that gave chase was larger than six men.

Miller told the court that he lost sight of the group as they ran towards the construction site due to the presence of paling and fencing in the area.

Twin brother Jamal Watson told the court that he was in a route 11 ZR van heading to the Oistins Post Office when he received the news of what had transpired in the River Van Stand and that his brother’s name had been called in connection with the matter.

He said he headed to the area but after getting out of a van, he could not get any further than a little past Queen’s Park as the area was cordoned off by police.

“I wasn’t there at all,” he added.