At Berbice Assizes
POLICE Lance Corporal Michael Newland, who was in company with him minutes before fellow policeman Micah Cort was killed, testified Thursday at the Berbice Assizes trial of the man indicted for the unlawful killing.

The witness told Justice Winston Patterson and the mixed jury that he saw the accused scuffling with Cort, who was dressed in civilian clothes, prior to hearing an explosion which sounded like a gunshot.

Newland said, earlier, Cort had been sitting on the bumper of an enclosed Canter truck, belonging to Ansa McAl.

The witness said he was not drinking but stood next to the victim who drank a stout. He had worked with Cort for seven years in the Anti-Crime Patrol Unit.

That February 11, 2007 night, Newland said, about 01:20 h, he had left his colleague and went to urinate some 30 metres away when he heard the explosion and saw Cort and the accused, Dorsette Mc Cammon, whom he knew for three years, near the Carib Bar.

The place was lit with a 100 watts bulb and the light reflected outwards so he could see the two men engaged in the scuffle that lasted for about two minutes, Newland said.

According to him, the accused had a dark handle gun, from which he discharged three rounds at Cort and the latter fell.

Newland said the accused, armed with the weapon, ran towards him and he moved further away.

The witness said he saw Errol Azar, whom he knew well, move from the vicinity of the Demerara Distillers Limited (DDL) Bar, which was located 20 feet from the Carib Bar and discharge about four rounds, hitting the accused who suffered a fall with a gun next to his hand.

Newland, led through his evidence-in-chief by State Prosecutor Fabayo Azore, said Police Corporal Semple took possession of the firearm that was near the accused where Cort lay bleeding profusely.

Newland said, with the help of other ranks, the wounded cop was put into a Police vehicle, driven by Constable Fordyce, for conveyance to New Amsterdam Hospital, where he was admitted a patient, in an unconscious condition, to the Emergency Unit.

Under cross-examination by Defence Counsel Mursalene Bacchus, the witness said he did not unscrew the bulb that was under the Carib Bar roof nor did he examine it but knew it was a 100 watts from its reflection.

The witness, who was upbraided by the judge for constantly saying correct instead of yes, said he did not consider himself an expert on electrical fittings but, after being referred to his deposition, admitted that, at the preliminary inquiry (PI) into the charge, he did not tell the magistrate the bar was lit with a 100 watts bulb.

Newland acknowledged that, when he testified in the lower Court 11 months after the shooting, the circumstances were fresher than now in his memory.

He said he wrote his statement about one week after the tragedy, when, again, he would have had a better recollection of what transpired.

Newland accepted, too, that it would have been more difficult to recognise someone in the dark rather than in light.

He said he was between 50 and 60 feet away from the men involved in the struggle and he took five minutes to get to his wounded colleague.

Newland, as a cricketer, knows the length of a cricket pitch is 66 feet, which he could have run in 10 seconds, yet he did not go to Cort’s assistance sooner.

He said, when he heard the gunshot, he could have seen the left side of the accused but agreed with Bacchus that he did not see the weapon next to the man’s hand.

Newland said he did not tell the magistrate that the light from the Carib Bar reflected downwards from 12 feet, because he did not remember to say so.

In addition, he failed to tell the magistrate that the gun was next to the hand of the accused.

He said Azar was East of the accused when he shot him from behind.

Newland, asked about his deposition, said he had assumed that what the accused had in his hand was a gun.

Another witness, Muneshwar Budram, an Ansa McAl driver/salesman said he was working at one of two bars operated by his employer when he heard an explosion and, on being pushed by a crowd, stooped at the side of the booth as other people looked in the direction behind him.

He said he stood up and, looking backwards, saw Cort, with whom he was acquainted for about ten years, lying on the ground 15 feet away.

Budram said he did not know what sound the first explosion made or where it originated but heard four or five more, prior to seeing Cort, with the aid of the light at the Carib Bar, ten feet from him.

At that stage, he did not see the accused.

Questioned by Bacchus, the witness said it is true he heard one explosion. Previously, on that night, he had seen Cort, whom he knew for two years, seated on the Canter truck bumper for about two hours, with three other policemen.

From when he saw the quartet, to when Cort collapsed to the ground, five hours had elapsed.

Budram confessed that he did not say, in his deposition at the PI, that Cort was in company with others.

He pointed out, though, that the bulb was eight feet from the ground, making it impossible for persons to come into contact with it.
The trial is continuing.