Witness denies jealousy pushed him to implicate accused

over 2 years in Jamaica Observer

THE prosecution's second witness in the trial involving 33 alleged members of the St Catherine-based Klansman gang yesterday scoffed at suggestions that he had been motivated by malice to implicate one of the accused, a former friend, because of jealousy over a teenaged girl with whom they had both been involved.Courtney Rowe, attorney for accused Marco Miller, alias Hezzie, yesterday in cross-examining the witness painted a picture of a man deranged by jealousy upon learning that the then 16-year-old whom he had been seeing since she was 15 had been impregnated by his crony.But according to the witness, who admitted that he had dated the teen on and off while he was in his twenties, he had not been told of that pregnancy. He further denied knowing that she was school aged, claiming. "I've never seen her in a uniform, never saw her go to school".He further claimed that Miller had been 'nowhere near in a relationship' with the teen at the time he was with her. He further declared, under questioning from the lawyer, that the child she carried was not the gangster's but another man, leading trial judge Chief Justice Bryan Sykes to enquire whether the proceedings had been transformed into a paternity case.Yesterday, the attorney said the witness' claims during his testimony that he had been in communication with this client would have been a lie since they were no longer on speaking terms because of the conflict over the female.Meanwhile, the witness yesterday denied that he had messaged the teen in 2016 after learning that she was carrying a child to say, "Mi did know seh a di bwoy Hezzie breed yuh, tink mi a eediat; a long time mi know seh yuh an him have sexual relations." The witness, in between chuckles, denied sending "that message" declaring that he would not have gone to that extent as when it came to females "Hezzie was not on my level".He further rejected suggestions from the attorney that the same rift had made it so that he went in search of Miller to kill him. The witness, however, said that on that occasion he had been acting on the instructions of accused gang leader Andre "Blackman'' Bryan who had ordered that Miller and another individual be killed as they were "not taking any talk" from him. Asked whether he was 'a friend killer', the witness said he had been duty bound to carry out the instructions of his leader.Yesterday, the attorney was forced to abort the remainder of the cross-examination due to challenges with introducing certain material electronically to the witness who has been testifying from a remote location since October when he took the stand. The trial began in September.Rowe is expected to resume his cross-examination of the witness when the matter continues this morning at 10:00 in the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston.

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