JUSTICE Dawn Gregory, presiding in the North West District’s ‘White Creek Village murder trial, yesterday overruled defence No-case submissions and called on the accused, Mark Thompson, called ‘Ishley’, for a defence.

Having been told of the three options open to him — remain in the dock and say nothing; give an unsworn statement from the dock, where no one could question him; or give a statement on oath from the witness box, where he would be subjected to cross-examination — the accused sought refuge in silence, telling Justice Gregory, “I will remain in the dock. I have nothing to say.”
His counsel, Mr. Peter Hugh, in his approximately 10-minute address to the court, told the jury that the depositions of the two eyewitnesses have been thrown out of the evidence by the presiding judge, and that the remaining evidence was not capable of sustaining a conviction for the prosecution.
But Prosecutor Miss Renita Singh, associated with Ms Diana Kaulesar, in addressing the jury for about 15 minutes, informed that the confession statement and oral testimony by the accused, if believed, could be used to establish a strong case for the prosecution; which is that the accused Mark Thompson, called ‘Ishley’, had murdered his 31-year-old cousin Romel Williams at White Creek Village, North West District, on January 13, 2008.
Witnesses testified that, on January 13, 2008, the now dead Romel Williams and his wife, Olive Williams, and his father and mother were returning home from church at about 09.30 pm when they encountered Patrick Daniels and Riley Dass fighting. Daniels is father-in-law to the accused, Thompson, and Riley Dass was nephew-in-law to the deceased.
Romel Williams went to part the fight, and was cuffed by Patrick Daniels. Romel retaliated, and Thompson joined the fray with a knife with which he stabbed Romel, who subsequently died.
On resumption of the trial tomorrow, (Thursday) Justice Gregory will sum up the case to the jury, after which she will hand it over to them for their consideration and verdict.