He was so busy fleeing for his life from the group of armed men chasing him in the Constitution River Terminal that he never saw when Kemar Gooding fell or got wounded.
This was the testimony of murder accused Jamar Watson as he told the 12-member jury in the No. 4 Supreme Court, “I do not know how Kemar got injured, but what I can say is that I was not the one who injured him that morning.”
Watson, who is charged with killing Gooding, formerly of Ellerton, St George, on March 27, 2018, took the witness stand on Friday and put his defence to the jury.
The 36-year-old resident of School Gap, Hindsbury Road, St Michael, told the court that at that time, he was employed with the Ministry of Transport and Works, working at the Constitution River Terminal construction site.
He went into the van stand to purchase food, and while walking past several men, Merciless used an obscene word to refer to him and pointed him out to another man. Watson said he did not respond at that time but continued walking to another stall to buy his food. He said on his return trip, he and Merciless had an exchange of words.
Watson recalled that when he went back to the job site, his colleague Corey Bourne invited him to have a drink in celebration of his birthday which was the day prior. The two headed to the van stand and went to a bar to get some beers when another workmate sat with them. He said when they left to go to another stall, Merciless’ brother accosted him and then walked off.
Watson stated that he and his workmates walked back to the job site and his shoulder touched Gooding’s as he had been stepping back from a table. The accused insisted, however, that it was not “a bounce”.
He testified that in walking away, he heard a voice shout “Twin Man, watch it dey” and a bottle hit him in his back. In retaliation, he picked up a piece of asphalt and threw it at Gooding who he realised was the one to throw the bottle.
“(The asphalt) hit the top of the stall. I didn’t see no child standing up on the table. The rock brek up in small pieces and I see all the men that was sitting down and standing in the area push the table and get up and had things that were shiny but I didn’t really see what it was. I just . . . turn and was running going back to my workplace,” he said, adding that he could see various objects landing in front of him that the group of “10 to 15” men were throwing at him.
The carpenter said when he reached the entrance of the site, he was running “so hard” when he held onto the post that he lost his footing and out of the corner of his eye he saw Gooding either kicking at him or about to fall down.
“I wasn’t too sure what he was doing. I didn’t stand to see. I didn’t wait because I knew other men were coming with weapons in their hand and they were already pelting at me. I had no time at all to turn around and drag Kemar foot, knowing that other people behind me . . . . I push off and turn back to my workplace, running with my hands over my head ‘cause people were still pelting things,” he recalled.
He had no object in his hand at the time, he said. Watson said he feared for his life and getting into his workplace was “a lifeline”.
The accused told the court he had never spoken to or been in any altercation with Gooding, who he saw for the first time that morning.
Asked by his attorney Safiya Moore about the testimony of other witnesses, Watson stated, “I did not make any contact with Kemar at that gate at all. The only contact we had was when our shoulders touched.”
He also said he had no knife while he was at the van stand.
The matter was adjourned until Monday when Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC will cross-examine Watson.
