‘Not Me’

Although admitting to stealing funds from a customer’s bank account, convicted thief Kevin Dacosta Cadogan said that any plan to put a hit on the pensioner was that of his former co-accused and he knew nothing about it.

Cadogan, of Arthur Seat, St Thomas, is charged with unlawfully and maliciously engaging in conduct which placed an elderly Bank of Nova Scotia customer in danger of death or serious bodily harm on August 24, 2011.

Taking the witness stand in his trial recently, the former bank employee told the No. 4 Supreme Court that he met Kirk White when he was 22 years old and employed at the Bank of Nova Scotia in Wildey. They began talking and he realised that White was a businessman who had several ventures, including a mechanic shop, a mini-mart, and the bar where they met. He said they quickly became “buddies” and he was introduced to the “big life” where people drank Hennessey. One day, as they were speaking about business plans, White told him he had several ideas but needed money to get them started as most of his funds were tied up in the businesses he owned.

It was then that they began talking about using money from a dormant account at the bank, “flipping” the cash to make a profit off the funds, and putting the money back into the account before anyone noticed it was missing. Cadogan checked at work and came across the account of the retired nurse. He told White and the two devised a plan to get the funds, including getting the bank client’s file and using it to get a bank card. He said White told him that the funds would be returned to the account in two months. They carried out the plan, with White coming into the bank and receiving the cheque from him.

Cadogan said it was later that White asked him if the cheque was traceable, and he replied that it was.

“He said, ‘If we tek out this woman, it wouldn’t be easier?’ I say, ‘Tek out? Look, just do what you got to do and bring back the money, and I gine put it back’,” the accused man said.

It was almost two weeks later when White messaged him and said, ‘Case closed’ and told him not to worry. Cadogan went over to White’s bar that same evening and White introduced him to a man called Boy Boy. He told Cadogan that he had taken this man to “scare de woman”.

The accused said he received a cheque from White a week later, which he believed meant that the investment venture was already paying off. However, after the two-month period passed without the funds being returned, he began pestering White.

“I went to the bar and he act like I bugging he, so I decided to go to the woman house and left a Post-it note saying to call me. She call me and I tell she I tief she money and she say talk to the police or to the bank,” he recalled.

Cadogan told the court that when he told White about the call, “Kirk say we gotta do something to really scare she . . . . Then, two days later, the police pick me up.”

When questioned by police, he denied knowing anything about a plan to shoot the woman.

During the cross-examination by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Alliston Seale SC, Cadogan admitted that he knew that stealing the money was wrong and that he had “lick out” the money White gave him in a brothel.

He also stated that he had given the bank customer’s file to White and that this contained her picture, address and other personal details.

“I am suggesting to you that the reason you had the whole file was to be able to identify the target,” Seale stressed.

The accused man denied this, saying he had given the file to White to ensure he knew the information about the account when he came into the bank.

Cadogan agreed that he told police that they had only planned to “frighten” the female pensioner because of what they did.

The accused also admitted that he was supposed to give White $2 500 “to pay Boy Boy to do the job”.

“The account holder was not to be involved in anything that we had planned,” Cadogan stressed.

Closing arguments are expected to be made to the nine-member jury by Seale as well as Cadogan’s defence attorney, Sade Harris, on Friday.