THE STATE closed its case against Marlon Freeman on Monday, after which the accused led his defence in which he gave an unsworn statement from the prisoner’s box and called three witnesses.

Freeman is on trial before Justice James Bovell-Drakes and a 12-member jury in the Georgetown High Court, for the alleged murder of city gold miner/dredge owner, Timothy Adams at Turtle Creek Road, Five Star Backdam, North West District, on December 23, 2013.

In his statement the accused told the court that he was 27 years of age and lived at Christiansburg, Wismar, Linden. In October 2013, he told his mother that he was going to work in the interior because he could not get a job in his community.

His mother cautioned him and he then went along his way because he said he had smaller siblings depending on him. Freeman said that he went to work for a man named, Gavin Blacks, where he was a pit man at the mining camp Blacks operated.

He recalled that on December 23, 2013 he went to work as usual from 06:00hrs and at about 16:00hrs he saw his boss man, Gavin Blacks, approaching on his All-Terrain Vehicle (ATV). He told him and other employees that he was at Powis Landing and heard that a man got killed there.

Freeman added that one of the workers asked Blacks if he knew the identity of the man killed and he replied in the negative. He told them to work up to 17:30hrs then close off the operation.

The accused told the court that after Blacks left they worked for about 15 minutes then they stopped working for that day. He watched television in the kitchen area of the mining camp and then he went to his hammock and slept.

The next day, December 24, 2013, while on his way to work he met some workers. They were chatting when he spotted his boss, Gavin Blacks, along with a man called “Ratty” and another man he could not name.

The accused stated that Blacks took out his firearm and discharged a shot over his head and he jumped. Blacks then told him that he, Freeman, went to Powis Landing and commit some crime.

Freeman denied and with that he was beaten and tied up in a standing position to a post by the mining camp, even after he said he did not know what they were talking about.

The accused told the court he was tied up like an ‘iguana’ for the day and when he asked for something to eat he was not given anything by Blacks, who accused him of killing a man and told him he did not deserve anything since he was a murderer.
Freeman said that it was after 17:00hrs on the same day that he saw three cops on an ATV approaching and they asked him who tied him up and he told them. He was then taken to Matthews Ridge Police Station, given something to eat and placed in the lock-ups.

He said the next day, December 25, 2013 he was taken by the police to Port Kaituma Police Station where he was questioned by several policemen, one of whom beat and tricked him into signing a paper with some writings on it. Freeman told the court he was told by the police that if he signed the statement he would be placed on $250,000 bail and he affixed his signature and was placed in the lock-ups.

It was sometime after, Freeman said, a police called out his name and told him that he would be charged for murder and he began to cry. The accused said that he was given a telephone to speak with his mother, to whom he related what had happened to him before an officer took the phone away from him.
The accused added that he was subsequently brought to Georgetown and charged for murder at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court and had been in jail since.

He said, “I want this court to know that I am innocent of this crime. Gavin Blacks is the reason I am here today and my fingers never hurt or killed anyone because I work honest for my money and I never even know the man. Look how I get hold for something I don’t know about.”

The mother and two brothers of the accused also testified.

In presenting the State’s case, Prosecutor Lisa Cave told the court that between December 22 and 23, 2013 the accused murdered the miner.

The accused has since pleaded not guilty to the offence and he is being represented by attorney Folio Richards.