Victim’s girlfriend cross-examined about shooter’s identification

THE judge and jury in the Cool Square murder case were, on Monday, given an eyewitness account of the March 3, 2010 incident.The witness, Gadray Baston, who claimed to be the girlfriend of the victim, Rawle Harding, said she had identified the accused in the dock, Junior Bourne, as one of the gunmen who shot and killed her lover during a hold-up at the West Ruimveldt, Georgetown restaurant.
But, in answer to cross-examination by defence counsel Huckumchand, the witness, who had given a statement to the police, claimed she did not tell them that the man was about five feet seven inches in height.
She said that description about height was information supplied by the police and she had nothing to do with it.
The witness, who was a waitress at Cool Square Restaurant on the night of the killing, said the shorter of the two robbers was wearing a cap but the man she identified at an identification parade, at Diamond Police Station, was picked out by her from among men, none of whom wore caps.

FIRST TIME
When asked by defence counsel how she was able to identify the accused by the hair when, at the time of the robbery, she was seeing him for the first time with a cap on, she did not answer.
In her evidence-in-chief she told State Prosecutrix Natasha Backer that Harding had turned up with a man named ‘Haiti’ about 22:45 hrs that night and a girl joined their party later.
She said that the two men, who looked like ordinary customers, turned up afterwards and bought two beers from her. They began drinking them and, during that time, the fair-skinned and taller man enquired from her whether she had ‘eatables’ and she replied ‘Yes.’
Shortly after that, she said the men were seen with guns as they attacked Harding, robbing him of cash and jewellery. During the shooting, Harding fell and, when taken to hospital, was pronounced dead.
Backer closed the case for the prosecution on Tuesday and the defence counsel also addressed the jury on Thursday.
Justice James Bovell-Drakes will sum up the evidence to the jury on December 27 for them to consider their verdict.

(By George Barclay)