‘I didn’t see any shooters on the premises’ | Leading stories

As cross-examination of Dr Claudette Clarke continued yesterday, she insisted there were no armed men on her property on the night of the police-military raid fourteen years ago that resulted in the death of her husband, Keith Clarke.

Dressed in an all-black dress in the witness box at the High Court, located in central Kingston, Dr Clarke, under cross-examination by Peter Champagnie, QC, maintained her position that neither she nor her husband committed criminals in their had housed. 27, 2010.

At the start of the interrogation, Champagnie stated: “Is this your evidence on May 27, 2010, when you looked through your bedroom window and could not see who was outside. Is that what you say?”

“Yes sir. I couldn’t see from the bedroom windows,” Dr. Clarke replied.

But that answer wasn’t enough for the lawyer, who pressed her for more.

“If I were to suggest to you, as I am now suggesting, that there are armed gunmen/criminals in addition to outside security forces, wouldn’t you be able to answer that? Can you confirm or deny that? Will not you?” Champagne asked.

In his response, Dr Clarke calmly replied: ‘I was not aware of any armed gunmen being on the property that night, sir…. I could not see it and I have no gunmen on the property outside the house seen.’

Not satisfied with her answer, Champagnie looked for evidence in the form of photographs taken immediately after the shooting that illustrated the condition of several parts of her home and two of the SUVs (a Toyota Prado and a Suzuki Grand Vitara). she and her husband owned it at the time.

Both SUVs were parked opposite the Kirkland Close property, with bullet holes in the windscreen, which, the court was told, was an indication that the gunman or gunmen caused the damage while shooting from the direction of the house.

“I’m going to show you that there were shooters that night,” Champagnie said before showing the images on a projector in the courtroom.

He asked her to closely analyze the images on the screen and verify whether they were parts of her house. The images include rooms in the basement, the master bedroom, stairs leading to the basement and the living room. Beer bottles were clearly seen lying around in the basement, on a basement staircase and in another room in the house. In addition, the bed in the basement was not spread out.

BED IN THE BASEMENT

“Therefore, you could confidently say… you agree with me… that in May 2010 the bed in the basement was always made and no one used it?… Is that the truth?” Champagnie asked, to which the witness repeated that her daughter had had a birthday party with her friends.

She also said that her daughter organized a gathering in the basement on April 23, a month before her birthday, after Champagnie asked her if the basement was occupied during the month of May 2010, which could explain the used condition of the basement. the area.

“So this is about a month before May 27th… . The get-together was a month earlier… . When you gave your statement to INDECOM (Independent Commission of Inquiry), did you ever say that the bed in the basement is always made and no one uses it? Champagnie asked, to which she said her answer was a question asked of her.

Champagnie then asked her if she was telling the truth when she made these statements, to which she replied: “In general.”

Clarke, then a 63-year-old chartered accountant, was shot 21 times during the raid on his home, after which the three soldiers – lance corporals Greg Tingling and Odel Buckley, as well as Private Arnold Henry – were charged with murder. .

The incident occurred during the search for then-fugitive Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, who was wanted by US authorities on drug and weapons charges.

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