Eleven years after being accused of having an unlicensed gun and ammunition, Renee Ricardo Hope told jurors that he placed his initials on a confession statement written by police officers because he felt his life was in danger.
As he tearfully delivered an unsworn statement from the dock, Hope maintained his innocence, saying that he knew nothing about the illegal firearm and bullets.
The 48-year-old of Ashdeane Village, Black Rock, St Michael, was back in the No. 4 Supreme Court on Thursday as his trial continued. He is charged with possession of a .32 automatic pistol and eight rounds of ammunition on May 21, 2011.
After Senior State Counsel Rudolph Burnett informed the court that the prosecution had closed its case, Hope delivered his statement in the dock and broke down in tears as he recounted the events that unfolded on the day in question.
“I was in my bed sleeping when I get wake up. When I woke up, I see six big men over me with guns asking me bout Brandon Taylor. Then a man tell me to get up while another man tell me, ‘Look the window dey. Go through it and give me a reason to shoot you’.
“I went in the hallway and one of the men tell me that he hear I got a gun in hey and I say I ain’t know nothing bout no gun. Then another man tell me that I got a gun and I got drugs and I told him I don’t know nothing bout no guns and no drugs,” Hope said.
The accused man said he was taken to Oistins Police Station where he was denied his right to a lawyer and threatened by police officers.
“Quick so, I get carry into an interview room where there were two big policemen with guns on them telling me that I have to give them a statement about something I don’t know nothing about. I told them again that I don’t know nothing about no guns and no drugs,” he told the court.
“The man told me I had to give him a statement and I told him I can’t give him a statement because I don’t know anything about no guns and no drugs. Then the man get vex and say that I got to give him a f****** statement or he gine beat me and gun butt me. They had already threatened my life in the house and now I in dey with two big men and one man got he hand on he gun. I get frighten . . . so where he tell me sign, I sign. I ain’t write nothing nor I aint correct nothing.”
Hope added that the incident had taken a toll on him and his family.
“I have two little girls now that I love dearly, plus I now get promote as a supervisor at my job…. This is hurting me. I love my little girls so much and I would never do nothing to offset them. I swear on my little girls’ lives that I never had no gun nor I never walk with a gun. This is hurting me,” Hope said as he fought back tears.
Burnett along with defence counsel Shadia Simpson will deliver their closing arguments on Friday and Madame Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell is scheduled to deliver the summation in the case next Tuesday.
Brathwaite admits to having guns, ammo
A St Philip man has admitted that he had two illegal firearms and ammunition in his possession more than three years ago.
When Jamel Orlando Brathwaite appeared in the No. 4 Supreme Court before Madame Justice Laurie-Ann Smith Bovell on Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to having a .45 semi-automatic pistol as well as a 9mm semi-automatic pistol on March 9, 2019.
Brathwaite, of Kirtons #3, St Philip, also pleaded guilty to having 43 rounds of 9 mm ammunition on the same date.
He will reappear in court for sentencing on November 28.
