Clarke’s attorneys challenge police claims

A police officer told the No. 5 Supreme Court that when Aziza Clarke was arrested on March 21, 2019, she denied that anyone else had been in the car with her and told lawmen ‘I ain’t shoot nobody’.

However, one of Clarke’s attorneys, Sade Harris, objected to the oral statements, saying they had never been made by her client.

Clarke of Bonnetts, Brittons Hill, St Michael, has pleaded not guilty to the charge that, knowing or believing that Hakeem Stuart had committed murder, she assisted him by transporting him from Briar Hall to Graeme Hall in Christ Church in an act to prevent him from being apprehended on March 21, 2019.

As the trial continued before the jury of three men and six women on Friday, Sergeant Ramon Welch, who was assigned to the Major Crimes Unit at the time, took the witness stand and said he had been the backup officer to the lead investigator in the matter.

He told the court that during the course of the investigations, he had made notes of times and the sequence of events in his official notebook, but had been unable to find it and read from a statement he prepared on April 16, 2019, based on those notes.

Asked by Senior State Counsel Kevin Forde, who is prosecuting the matter along with Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney, what Clarke said to the lead investigator when asked who was in the car with her, Welch replied, “The accused said ‘Nobody wasn’t in the car with me. I was by myself’.”

At this point, Harris, who represents Clarke along with King’s Counsel Michael Lashley, made a formal objection “on the grounds that it was never said.”

Welch stated that after Clarke was informed that she was being transported to Oistins Police Station for further investigations to be carried out, the accused said, “I ain’t shoot nobody.”

Harris again objected, citing the same grounds.

As he was cross-examined, Welch recalled that Clarke had not initialled the oral statements in either his or the lead investigator’s notebook, as “she stated her attorney told her not to initial or sign anything.”

He agreed that the notebook usually had the most accurate record of the investigation.

“You accept that you are missing that very important tool?” Harris asked.

Welch replied, “Yes, ma’am.”

The officer then explained that he was transferred to another unit and had been hospitalised, during which time the office had been packed up and efforts to find the notebook had so far been unsuccessful.

After Harris suggested that Clarke had not made the orals, Welch testified, “The accused said those verbals.”

The trial continues on Monday.

Justice Pamela Beckles presides.