Plea change

One of the two men accused of murdering Mark Walton eight years ago brought an abrupt end to his case on Monday, just one week into the trial.

When the case resumed before the 12-member jury and Justice Carlisle Greaves in the No. 3 Supreme Court, Rashayne Aneil Blenman, of Risk Road, Fitts Village, St James, through his attorneys Andrew Pilgrim K.C. and Kamisha Benjamin, asked to be re-arraigned.

He then pleaded not guilty to murdering Walton on August 4, 2014, but guilty to the charge of non-capital murder.

The 26-year-old Blenman, who had been on bail, was remanded and is now set to be sentenced on January 20, next year.

However, his co-accused Romario Antonio Clarke, 28, also of Risk Road, Fitts Village, St James, continued with his trial and gave an unsworn statement from the dock.

He denied shooting Walton, a 23-year-old watersports operator.

Clarke told jurors that on the night of the deadly shooting,  he and Blenman came across a man whom he [Clarke] was not on speaking terms with at a bus stop, and he went up to him and told that he had heard that “he and his boss was looking for me”.

He said he and the man got into an argument and Walton then came out and got involved in the argument.

“Mark grabble me and me and Mark start to fight. I was scared because I was out by where them live and where them block is. Them and them boss . . . have a reputation for shooting and killing people,” Clarke told the court.

“I saw a firearm join the struggle. I did not know where it come from. I was frightened because I thought I woulda get shot.”

The accused said he ran and that is when he heard gunshots.

“I did not expect that Mark woulda get shot because me and he was struggling. I then ran off, Rashayne had ran behind me. I start to panic. That was when I know that Rashayne shot Mark because he had the gun and he did not know what to do.”

Clarke said he called a friend and told him what had happened and the person advised him to “bring the gun” and burn his clothes.

“I did not see the gun before the shooting. I panicked and burn my clothes. I did not shoot Mark. I did not tell anyone to shoot Mark and I would never tell nobody to shoot someone while me and them in a fight,” added Clarke who said he turned himself in after he was told that police were searching for him.

The prosecution represented by Senior State Counsel Neville Watson and Clarke’s attorneys, Angella Mitchell-Gittens and Latisha Springer, closed their cases on Monday.

Justice Greaves is set to give his summation on Tuesday before handing the case over to jurors to deliberate.