A blatant liar and a pathological liar.
These were the words used by defence attorney Israel Khan, SC, to describe two of the State’s main witnesses in the trial of six police officers accused of murdering three friends from Moruga in 2011.
Presenting his closing address to the 12-member jury before High Court Judge Carla Brown-Antoine at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Khan first aimed at Leeladeo Surujbally, who was purchasing food at a roadside restaurant at the corner of Rochard Douglas Road and Gunness Trace in Barrackpore when the car Abigail Johnson, Kerron Eccles, and Alana Duncan were driving in were shot at by the officers on July 22, 2011.
Describing Surujbally as a blatant liar, Khan claimed that his testimony over what transpired was contradicted by CCTV footage of the incident, which was captured by cameras at a nearby auto parts dealer.
Khan pointed out that while Surujbally claimed that he heard one of the officers shout “Shumba (Duncan’s common-law husband Shumba James) you dead tonight” before they opened fire on the car the trio was driving in, the footage, which had clear audio, did not reflect such.
After the footage was replayed for the jury, Khan also noted that a single gunshot followed by one continuous volley of gunshots was heard despite Surujbally claiming that there was a pause in the shooting before it resumed after he saw a woman emerge from the vehicle.
“The audio visual recording is not made-up evidence. It is the recording of the truth,” Khan said.
Khan pointed out that while testifying in the trial, Surujbally admitted that he had difficulties in remembering the traumatic incident though he maintained that his claims in his statement to the police and during the preliminary inquiry of the case were the truth.
He noted that James, and his friends Marlon Figaro and Andrel Richards, who were following the trio in the vehicle James was known to have used, were unable to say whether the trio shot at the officers, who returned fire in self-defence, as they all admitted that they heard the gunshots while driving away and did not clearly witness it despite turning around.
Khan spent a considerable portion of his address on the evidence of WPC Nicole Clement, who was initially charged alongside her former colleagues before being made a State witness.
Clement was deemed a hostile witness as she refused to testify due to “safety and security” concerns. Her testimony during the preliminary inquiry, in which she claimed that two of the friends survived the initial barrage of gunshots on their vehicle but were executed at a second location, was read into evidence.
Khan said, “She is not a blatant liar ... She is a pathological liar.”
“She is a mad woman. She is not insane. She is mentally imbalanced,” Khan added.
Khan suggested that Clement only agreed to implicate her colleagues after she was charged with the crime.
Noting that Clement had five years of service and had joined the officers’ specialised unit two months before the shooting, Khan questioned why her colleagues would have risked killing the trio and attempting to cover up the crime in her presence.
“If they had to kill them, would they do it in the presence of this lady?” Khan said.
“Common sense will lead you to the truth here,” he added.
Khan suggested that Clement had the opportunity to plant a rubber glove and spent shells at a location off the M2 Ring Road in Woodland, where she claimed Eccles and one of the women were executed.
“She is crazy. I don’t think anyone here is so crazy as to believe what she said,” he said.
Khan also referred to the fact that earlier this year, Clement wrote a letter to Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC, in which she indicated that she would not testify in the trial. He also mentioned that she provided a statement in which she claimed to have been the “mastermind” and threatened her colleagues to execute the two friends after the initial shooting.
Khan suggested that the letter and attached statement were a subterfuge to convince Gaspard to not let her testify. “This lady can write a drama play ... She is lying on herself so she would not come here to answer questions,” Khan said.
In his closing address, attorney Ulric Skerritt sought to suggest the reason Clement chose to implicate the men. “She had a young child who she knew she was not going to see grow up. Some of you are mothers. You will understand,” Skerritt said.
He stated that numerous gaps in Clement’s story were not filled by prosecutors including how she was able to remember the location of the second crime scene.
Skerritt also pointed out that the autopsy on Eccles’ body showed that he was shot on his right side as opposed to his front as claimed by Clement. “When you make stuff up, there are a lot of things that are left unexplained,” Skerritt said.
Skerritt is expected to complete his address when the trial resumes today. He will be followed by lead prosecutor Gilbert Peterson, SC.
Justice Brown-Antoine is then expected to summarise the evidence and legal issues in the case to the jury over three days next week before they are allowed to deliberate on the officers’ guilt or innocence.
Sgt Khemraj Sahadeo and PCs Renaldo Reviero, Glenn Singh, Roger Nicholas, Safraz Juman, Antonio Ramadin are also represented by Arissa Maharaj. The State is also being represented by Elaine Greene, Giselle Ferguson-Heller and Katiesha Ambrose-Persadsingh.
