He made the disclosure when questioned by defence lawyer Tamika Harris on his evidence that he was running from Kartel on August 16, 2011, then stopped a taxi and went with Kartel to a hospital.
“It is not him I am afraid of. [It] is his friends dem and what him tell dem to do,” the witness responded, when Harris pointed out to him that he had said that he waited for Kartel in the hospital yard and then went back with Kartel in a taxi to a guest house in Havendale.
The witness had testified earlier this week that after he jumped the gate at Kartel’s house and was being chased by Kartel, he saw Kartel hopping. Kartel said his pit bull had bitten him and he wanted to go to the hospital.
Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, is charged jointly with entertainer Shawn Campbell, also known as Shawn Storm; Kahiro Jones; Shane Williams; and André St John for the murder of 27-year-old dancer Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.
The Crown, represented by prosecutors Jeremy Taylor and Leighton Morris, is alleging at the trial in the Home Circuit Court that on August 16, 2011, Williams, of Waterford, St Catherine, was murdered at Kartel’s house in Havendale, St Andrew, over two missing guns.
MAINTAINS HE’S TELLING THE TRUTH
Yesterday, the witness faced thorough cross-examination from attorney-at-law Pierre Rogers, who is representing Jones, but the witness said he was not lying when he said he did not have a gun on August 16, 2011.
On being shown his statement, the witness said when he went home that night, a man named ‘Bandit’ gave him a gun to “lock” and he buried the gun in his yard.
Rogers also suggested to the witness that some of the things he said in court were not in his statement to the police, but the witness said, “I did tell the police”.
Rogers further suggested to the witness that he told lies and fabricated the story “to get out of the gun charge”, but the witness said he was telling the truth.