Expert witness

The pathologist who performed the post-mortem on Antonio Harewood, today revealed that he died from a stab wound to his upper left chest.

That was the evidence given by consultant pathologist at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Dr David Gaskin as the murder trial of Pedro Ellis continued in the No.3 Supreme Court.

The 38-year-old Ellis of Morris Gap, Westbury Road, St Michael, is accused of murdering Harewood on May 5, 2013.

Queen’s Counsel Larry Smith along with Kashka Haemans and Safiya Moore are representing Ellis, while Crown Counsels Oliver Thomas and Rudolph Burnett are prosecuting.

The matter is being heard by Justice Carlisle Greaves.

Dr Gaskin was deemed an expert witness after revealing that he had performed approximately 1500 post mortems since 1997.

He told the court there was a 4×2.2 cm oval shaped, gaping wound to the upper left of Harewood’s chest, just superior to the lateral end of the clavicle.

Dr Gaskin said the wound was left to right and was associated with an injury to the external jugular vein and trachea.

He revealed that blood was also found in his nostrils, stomach and airway.

However, under cross-examination from Queen’s Counsel Smith, Dr Gaskin admitted he was trained as a general pathologist and not a forensic pathologist.

He also admitted to the court that in some international countries such as the US, England and Australia, forensic pathologists dealt with post mortems as it related to criminally suspicious deaths.

Despite that, Dr Gaskin said he was accustomed to performing post mortems in those scenarios but would request another opinion if needed.

He agreed that the “situation in Barbados” was not ideal, as they were a lack of specialist pathologists on the island.

The pathologist also acknowledged that in the post mortem document he did not record the deceased’s weight; had taken no photographs of the body and had included no diagrams.

Also taking to the stand today was the deceased’s cousin Crystal King.

King, who resides in 3rd Avenue, Parris Gap, Westbury Road, St Michael, told the court she was on the pasture where Ellis was playing football when his wife came to him.

She said from the manner in which she approached him she could tell something had happened.

King recalled that after Ellis and his wife left the field she followed them. She said Ellis went home and then proceeded to the track by a four cross.

She said from the top of the track she could see straight down Parris Gap, where she saw the accused and his son.

King said she saw Ellis with a white-handled knife in his right hand and a big rock in the other, while his son had two big rocks.

Shortly after, the witness said she heard the sound of big rocks hitting a paling and she turned around and went through Thorne’s Gap, then through a track which led to 4th Avenue and then 3rd Avenue, where she saw her cousin lying down dead.

However, under cross-examination by Smith, King admitted that in her police statement given a day after the incident occurred, she told police she saw Ellis with a brown-handled knife.

But she maintained that she told the police she had seen him with a white-handled knife at that time and was surprised when she looked at the statement to see something else.

King also admitted to the court that she had not seen Ellis go home after leaving the football field.

The trial will continue on October 19.