When the mother of the late Alex Romel Samuels was getting ready for work on the morning of February 1, 2012 she saw her son asleep.
The next time she saw the then 30-year-old was at the Pine, St Michael after going there following a telephone call from police.
Cora Jordan told the No. 5 Supreme Court today presided over by Madam Justice Jacqueline Cornelius that on arrival at the Pine she saw a minibus but could not remember the licence plate number. Police then escorted her onto the vehicle.
“When I got on the van I saw my son Alex lying in the pathway of the van. When I saw him on the ground I saw what appeared to be blood. He was lying in what appeared to be a pool of blood,” the mother said adding that she then identified her son’s body to the police.
“My son used to fix motorcycles and he loved to ride motorcycles,” she revealed through questioning by Crown Counsel Neville Watson.
Jordan gave the evidence as the murder trial of Baggio Kristidi Decourcey Daniel, of Block 1A Factory Avenue, Wildey St Michael – the man accused of murdering her son – continued before a 12-member jury.
Daniel has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Under questioning by the accused’s attorney-at-law Marlon Gordon, the mother said she did not know the circumstances surrounding the incident.
However, when asked who Nora Jordan was, she revealed the woman was her niece and her son’s cousin.
Nora Jordan then took the stand and gave her evidence stating that she went to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s morgue on February 9 and identified Alex’s body to the “person that was there”.
After being given a few moments to compose herself, she revealed that she also went to the scene at the Pine on February 1, 2012 but did not identify the deceased there.
She also admitted that she could not say whether the body that was removed from the van was that of Alex Samuels as she never saw him since he was in a body bag.
Another of the Crown’s witnesses to take the stand today was registered family physician Dr Andrew Murray.
He told the court when he was escorted to the scene by a constable he saw a young male lying in a “supine position in the middle of the minibus. A substance, which appeared to be blood . . . was on the floor next to his chest and this substance trailed to his feet”.
The doctor explained that no sign of life was noted. “I certified that person dead at 18:49 hours (6:49 p.m.) on February 1, 2012. He was not identified at the time.”
The case was then adjourned to continue on Thursday, October 3 at 9:30 a.m.
