Wrong man!

It was not me!

That was the impassioned statement of Kemal Mario Straker who today maintained his innocence and suggested that police were trying to frame him.

Straker, of #15 Clapham Park, St Michael, is charged with possession of a .45 ACP firearm and nine rounds of ammunition on February 9, 2020.

When his trial continued in the No. 3 Supreme Court this morning before Justice Carlisle Greaves, Straker opted to give an unsworn statement from the dock.

“I was not the person in Reed Street on February 9, 2020. I don’t go to Reed Street. I don’t be in Reed Street at all. I don’t have no friends or any associates in that area. It is a lie that they tell on me,” an emotional Straker stated.

“The police that arrest me that say they know me for two years are telling lies because I was in prison for three years prior. The police always coming to me about things that I don’t know anything about. For my birthday in August the police come and knock out my teeth. They just keep looking back at my old life from 2015.

“I just want to prove my innocence because I did not have a firearm on me. The police are just trying to set me up for something that I don’t know anything about,” he added.

Straker told the court it was also telling that none of the police officers who testified in the case identified him by his tattoos.

He said both his right and left arm were completely covered with tattoos.

Straker, who is slimly built, also contended that he would not have been able to escape the grasps of police officers due to his build.

The prosecution, led by Senior State Counsel Neville Watson, closed its case against Straker today.

Watson and defense counsel Bryan Weekes were scheduled to deliver their closing addresses to the jury today.