Witness tells court he heard explosions and ran with others to cane-ground

The trial of three St Lucy men continued this morning before the High Court with another civilian witness giving evidence.

St Lucy resident Toshawn Griffith took the stand in Supreme Court No. 3 today in the matter against Andre Omar Jackman, and Kaeron Sylvian Moore both of Stroud Bay and Shane Hakeem Omar Babb from Crab Hill.

The accused are before a nine-member jury charged with using an illegal firearm on September 30, 2018 as well as unlawfully and recklessly engaging in conduct which placed Reshawn Greaves and Michael Abbott in danger of death or serious bodily harm.

Moore and Greaves are also accused of damaging a house belonging to Chrisandra Greaves on the same day with intent to damage such property or were reckless as to whether such property would be damaged.

Griffith told the court presided over by Justice Carlisle Greaves, that he was in the vicinity of his home that day liming with friends when he heard a shot. “I stand up and run behind the house I was in front of. I could hear that shots was beating – explosions. I could hear the explosions and hear some of the bullets fly pass me.

I continue to run and went down into the cane-ground,” he told the court. He was being questioned by Senior Crown Counsel Neville Watson who is prosecuting the case along with Acting Crown Counsel Rudolph Burnett.

The witness said that others were running in the same direction as he was and when they got to the cane-ground they all checked to see whether any of them had been shot.

“I could hear people screaming extremely hard and I knew something was wrong. All the time in the cane-ground we could still hear the loud explosions,” he added saying he believed the heard some “50 explosions or more than that because it was a lot.”

Griffith added, “I could still hear people screaming so we started to walk back towards the house but we were cautious . .

. . we heard sirens”. On coming out of the cane-ground, he said, they were met by police who questioned them.

When asked whether he had seen who was responsible for the explosions, Griffith replied:

“Unfortunately no”.

Attorney Shadia Simpson is representing accused Moore and Jackman is being represented by Queen’s Counsel Michael Lashley and his team while Babb is represented by attorney Verla Depeiza. The case will continue tomorrow morning.