Witness says murder accused was absent when shots fired

A witness told police that while murder accused Shawayne Williams was liming on the block on the night of December 26, 2017, he was absent for a time, including the moment when gunshots rang out nearby.

 

This was revealed in the statement of Randy Kwang, read into the court’s records by legal assistant Judith Husbands during the ongoing trial in the No. 4 Supreme Court. Williams, of White Hill, St Michael, has pleaded not guilty to the December 26, 2017, murder of 21-year-old Tavon Kaideen Alleyne of Eden Lodge in the same parish.

 

Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC, who is leading the prosecution alongside State Counsel Paul Prescod and State Counsel Anastacia McMeo-Boyce, told the court that Kwang had moved overseas the year after the incident and could not be located to testify.

 

In his statement, Kwang said that he frequented the Eden Lodge area and was familiar with persons there, knowing them by either their real names or nicknames. Around 6 p.m. on Boxing Day, he walked to the ‘Gotham’ block on Downhill Drive Road, where he found a group of people drinking, gambling, and playing music. While he could not remember everyone present, Kwang told officers that Williams, alias Steppy, was there, and they started to “spar” (drink together).

 

“About five minutes to 8 p.m., I went for a beer for myself and I got one for Steppy. As I was looking for him, I realised that he had left the block,” Kwang told police. “I did not ask anyone for him because I realised that he was not on the block. I just continued drinking and smoking without him. About 15 minutes after I realised that Steppy was not on the block, I heard about six or seven very loud explosions. They were so loud, they could be heard even though the music was still being played. They sounded as if they were coming from the area of the bottom block located in the area of Church Hill Drive. When I heard the explosions, I assumed that they were gunshots.”

 

According to Kwang, none of the people on the block went towards the area where the sounds had come from.

 

Kwang’s statement continued: “All this time, Steppy was still not on the block. About 10 minutes after hearing the shots, I saw Steppy come back to the block. He just came back and sat down. He appeared to be fine to me. He was not sweating, or breathing heavily or anything to suggest that he was running. He did not say anything to me about where he went, nor did I ask him.”

 

Kwang said he only learned the following morning that Alleyne, known as Murca, had been shot, and he felt “real bad” as he was a close friend.

 

Kwang admitted to lawmen that later that morning, he was contacted by a relative of the accused who told him that the police had him in custody and asked him to tell the officers that the two of them had been together all night.

 

The court also heard the statement of Tanella Alleyne, Tavon’s sister, which was read in court as she has since passed away.

 

In her account, she said that on the morning of December 26, 2017, she, Tavon, and her boyfriend attended a sunrise cruise onboard the MV Dreamchaser before heading home. She told police that the last time she saw her brother alive was around 2:38 p.m. that day when he left to attend a friend’s party in Spooner’s Hill.

 

Around 7 p.m., she was at home with her boyfriend when she heard “multiple loud explosions sounding like gunshots” that were “fast, fast, fast, fast”. They did not move. At 7:18 p.m., her sister called and asked if her brother was home.

 

“I said, ‘No, why?’ And she said, ‘Redman say he now get shoot’…. I call Redman, who is a taxi man and ask him how much times Tavon get shoot and he told me he did not know. About 7:38 p.m., Tyrese call and told me he was at the hospital and that Tavon get shoot. On arrival, I was informed that Tavon had died,” the statement continued.

 

The sibling said that, to her knowledge, her brother had not been involved in any recent conflicts and she did not know why anyone would want to kill him.

 

Williams is being represented by Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens.