Dario Hollingsworth told police in an interview that he never fought with Dave James, and only touched him to break up a fight between him and another inmate.
Police Constable Rhyson King, the lead investigator in the serious bodily harm case against Hollingsworth, read this into evidence on Wednesday in the No. 4A Supreme Court.
Hollingsworth, of Golden Rock, Pine, St Michael, is charged that on August 11, 2019, he unlawfully caused serious bodily harm to James with intent to do him serious bodily harm or to maim, disfigure or disable him; and that he unlawfully and maliciously inflicted serious bodily harm on James.
Constable King told the nine-member jury that during the interview, Hollingsworth said that James had attacked Shaquon Stafford for his canteen as his own had been stolen. He said he considered both of the men to be his friends.
“So when I see the two of them fighting, at first I tell them ‘stop fight’, so they stop. I end up getting off de bed, pushing Shaquon, pushing James. So from dey, James bore back Shaquon,” Hollingsworth said. The door was opened, an officer came and told them to stop fighting but “James had de upper hand on Shaquon”. The officer started shouting and another officer called the Emergency Response Team. Hollingsworth said everyone was taken out of the dorm and both men had injuries.
“Shaquon had stab wounds to he face, nose and thing. James had stab wounds to he back and thing,” Hollingsworth told police.
He said he touched James to part the fight.
Asked if he fought or hit James, Hollingsworth replied, “No”. He gave the same response when asked if he owned a ‘grain’ – a long metal object sharpened at the top to a point – had stabbed James with one or saw anyone else doing so.
Also taking the witness stand, Applon Parris told the court that the night before the alleged incident, he and James shared some Weetabix and Lasco from each other’s canteens to celebrate Parris’ birthday. He said there was no security in the dorm as it was an open space. The next day when they awoke, the food items were gone.
Parris asked who ate his food and he saw the Weetabix in front of Hollingsworth’s and Stafford’s bunks. He observed James talking to an officer who came and locked down the dorm after telling them to sort it out. The witness said Stafford cuffed James in his face, and when they began to fight, he said, ‘It didn’t have to come to that’ and stepped forward. Parris said Hollingsworth slapped him in his face and told him to let the other two “have it out”.
Later that evening, he saw Hollingsworth and Stafford collecting something from a guy at the back of the dorm. After the 7.30 p.m. shift change, the main lights were switched off and the ambient lights came on, Parris said, adding that he could see clearly.
As he sat on his bunk and James sat on a bucket in front of it, the two inmates approached with ‘grains’ in their hands and took up his toiletries and items belonging to James.
“They dumped all of our stuff on the ground and started to distribute it amongst themselves. Shaquon started to approach us again, and he had a flat metal grain in his hand sharpened to a point about an inch and a half in length. Dario Hollingsworth approached Dave James with a three-inch long grain – a long piece of thick wire fence that was broken off and sharpened at the tip. Shaquon stabbed Dave James in his face, and Dario Hollingsworth was making stabbing motions at James. I saw a lot of blood. Blood was all over the place,” Parris testified.
He saw Hollingsworth make four stabbing motions at James before he was able to push him off James.
Asked what happened to the ‘grains’ after the incident, Parris shrugged and replied, “Disappeared.”
Principal State Counsel Joyann Catwell and State Counsels Eleazar Williams and Anastacia McMeo-Boyce are prosecuting the matter while Madam Justice Wanda Blair is presiding.
The trial continues on Thursday.
