Detective: Taitt denied Clarke slaying

Murder accused Dario Taitt denied killing Jamal Clarke, lead investigator Station Sergeant Kenwyn Somrah testified as the trial continued in the No. 3 Supreme Court on Monday.

Taitt, of Silver Sands, Christ Church, has pleaded not guilty to Clarke’s May 2, 2023 shooting death.  

“I ain’t kill nobody,” he told the detective when he informed him that he was a suspect in the fatal shooting, the court heard.

Acting on information, Station Sergeant Somrah and other officers went to a house in Marchfield, St Philip, on May 6, 2023, where they saw Taitt in the living room. The accused ran from the front to the rear of the house, where other officers apprehended him.

He said the accused had a short haircut. When he asked Taitt why he had cut his dreadlocks, the man made no reply.

When told of his right to consult an attorney, Taitt said: “‘I went to the lawyer this morning with my mother, and he say he will bring me in Monday. I went to the doctor and get a certificate ‘cause you know what does happen at police stations’.”

Station Sergeant Somrah read a lengthy oral statement in which the accused said someone had dropped off a phone with him and asked him to unlock it, but he told them: “‘I don’t unlock phones. I ain’t no technician’.”

Taitt told officers that a man had put the phone on a ledge. He fell asleep, and when he woke up, the phone was gone.

His statement to police continued: “‘I ain’t see nobody inside, and I say he come back for it. Monday morning Jamal come there bumming down the house and say he want the phone. I tell he the man bring the phone and I ain’t knowing nothing ‘bout it. He come inside, and I tell he check on top the ledge, and he check and start keeping nuff noise. He pull down my TV and the screen break. I tell myself, he must be high and freaking out’. 

“‘Jamal left my place and come back keeping noise and tell me he ain’t want to disrespect my pop’s place, and if he butt any of we, he will disrespect us. He went ‘long and come back, and I was doing a tattoo for a woman and he ask me if I ain’t find his phone yet. I told him he come and disrespect me and mash up my TV and still telling me about a phone I don’t know anything about’. 

“I told Jamal me and he ain’t had no transaction and ask me if that is my excuse, I got a gun and ain’t got to borrow my brother gun. He gone long, and I start back doing the tattoo for the woman, and he come back a half hour later. It could be more or less, and snatch the net out the window, and my customer got up and ran. I ask he what vibe he pun and I sit down outside before I went and bathe’. 

“‘I just cool myself, get a bath and went in my bed. The next morning, I get up, left home, get a van and went to my uncle to do a tattoo, and I get in Six Roads after nine. I ain’t know how my name get call in this thing’.”

Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney, acting Senior State Counsel Anastacia McMeo-Boyce and State Counsel Kwame Ramsay are prosecuting the case, while defence counsel Martie Garnes represents Taitt.

Justice Carlisle Greaves is presiding over the case, which a 12-member jury is hearing.

(JB)