BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – A distraught mother said that she is seeking justice for her son, whom she claimed was railroaded by the justice system in St. Kitts and is innocently currently serving a life sentence at Her Majesty’s Prison.
Magdalene Hazel of Station Road, St. Johnson Village is adamant that her son, Jahari Bart, was not involved in the April 2011 shooting-death of Laustin Jamie ‘Big Ship’ Williams, son of Retired Commissioner of Police Austin Williams.
Speaking with SKNVibes, a tearful Hazel claimed that investigators of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force had fabricated “the caution statement in which they claimed my son had confessed to killing Jamie and to have signed it, was never presented as evidence in the four trials”.
“Yes, my son told me that he did give the police a statement, but the details of the one in which the officers had told the judge and jury in the High Court was not said by him. They claimed that he said Jamie was not the intended target but another person who was gambling with Jamie and two other persons. If that was a fact, then why didn’t they present in court the said statement they claimed he made and signed? They refused to do so because a handwriting expert would have found the signature to be a forgery.
“Also, the female witness said while she was gambling with Jamie and the two other men, she saw a hand with a gun hanging over the fence, and shortly after she heard gunshots and she ran away from the scene. However, she did not say that she saw my son behind the gun. Additionally, my son’s lawyer, Chesley Hamilton, had highlighted in the court that the officers’ testimonies had conflicted at times with the details of my son’s alleged caution statement.”
Recounting what transpired on the night of Williams’ shooting-death and before her son was charged with his murder, Hazel said that unlike his older brother who had run-ins with the law, Bart was in the confines of her home.
“When the shooting incident took place, I was at home with my boyfriend watching a movie on TV and Jahari was there with us. I can remember that my phone rang about 10 o’clock and Jahari answered it. It was a friend of mine and she told Jahari to give me the phone. When I took it, she said that she heard of a shooting incident and wanted to know if it happened in St. Jonson Village and I told no. Shortly after that phone call I heard that Jamie was killed in Buckley’s. That was on the night of Wednesday the 6th of April 2011.”
“Four days after, the 10th of April 2011, while I was in the bathroom, Jahari called out to me saying, ‘Mommy, mommy police in the house.’ I immediately came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around my body and found a number of police officers in my living room.”
Hazel said she asked the officers why they were in her house and one of them said that they were there to search it.
“I then asked where was the warrant to search my home and one of the men called a female officer who was in my yard and she showed me the warrant. But what upset me is that while in the kitchen, one of the male officers kept pulling my hand saying that I must go into the dining room. I objected and told him I was not properly dressed and that I needed to go into my bedroom. He released my hand and told the female officer to accompany me in the bedroom.”
The mother said after being properly attired she emerged from the bedroom and the officers searched the entire home and also the yard but did not find anything to incriminate neither she nor any other person who reside there.
She however stated that after the officers had exited her home, she and Bart were standing by the kitchen’s door and one of the officers asked him where did his brother hide the gun.
“Jahari told the officer, ‘Is you all have them and you supposed to know where they are.’ The officer then asked him how old he was and he said 19 years. Maybe because of what he said, a seemingly irate police officers said they were taking him to the station for questioning. And that was the last day my son was seen in the house.”
Hazel stated that a number of police officers had returned to her home on the following day and arrested her older son, Kelroy ‘C-Face’ Hazel.
She also stated that both of them were subsequently charged with murder and remanded at Her Majesty’s Prison, “but after four years and eight months the case against Kelroy was dismissed on a no case submission, and after four trials Jahari was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison”.
“Like me, many people know that Jahari is innocent. He had never been involved in any criminal activity. He had an unblemished record until now, which is to be blamed on the three officers who fabricated the statemen,” Hazel lamented.
She claimed that in an effort to hoodwink the public, the three officers, “including a female”, had arrested her sons because they wanted to prove to the then Commissioner of Police that they were very efficient and proficient in the execution of their duty.
“But they knew and still know that he is innocent, she exclaimed. “A very close relative of Jamie also knows that my son is innocent. That person had said it to more than one individual.”
When asked why her sons were arrested from among all the known criminals and gang members in St. Kitts, the mother said that during a programme on one of the local radio stations [name provided] on Friday, April 8, 2011, someone wrote a message claiming that they knew who killed the Commissioner’s son and “the male host called my son’s name – Kelroy Hazel’.
"Many people call themselves journalists but they are not. They are a set of irresponsible people and deal mainly with rumours. Two days after the so-called journalist mention my son’s name, the police came and arrested Jahari. If they were prompted by what was said on the radio, how come Kelroy was set free and Jahari jailed? Definitely, the crooked police officers know the answer.”
The teary-eyed mother said she is a poor woman and has to save every cent to pay the lawyer who had filed an appeal against the conviction and sentence of her son.
“I only hope at the hearing that I could get an opportunity to take the stand. I also hope that the judges would go through the documents of the four trials and force the lying unscrupulous officers to present the confession statement they claimed that my son gave them and signed to. I want justice for my son!”
