BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AS the Vybz Kartel murder trial comes to a close, the judge in the case Justice Lennox Campbell, in his summation, told jurors last Friday (Mar. 7) that the “overall scheme of the defence is that there was a conspiracy to convict the accused men”.
According to the Jamaican Observer, “Campbell’s use of the word ‘scheme’ to describe the defence, caused one of the lawyers for the accused to mouth the word ‘scheme’ in surprise”.
“He reminded jurors that Thomas had said that none of the photos he took at Kartel’s Havendale home where Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams was believed to have been murdered on August 16, 2011 had been tampered with,” the Observer reported.
In light of the defence of conspiracy, the entity reported that Campbell told jurors that “it is important to look at the actions of the policeman to determine of it was authorized by law”.
But, eyebrows were raised in the Home Circuit Court because of the comments by Justice Lennox Campbell to jurors in the Vybz Kartel murder trial.
“The judge inadvertently told jurors that Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams was dead, saying, ‘The person who is dead is his friend’ in reference to the prosecution’s main witness. The judge’s statement caused two defence attorneys to look at each other and comment astonished "The person who is dead?" the Observer said.
The media house then reported that Campbell - in his earlier summation - told the jurors that the first thing they needed to do is to ascertain if indeed Williams is deceased.
However, it was reported by the Observer that Campbell told the jurors, in his summation of the summing up of the main witness’s evidence, that witness testified that he was scared.
“Ladies and gentlemen, these are not soft guys. These are men who locked guns. These are men who you wouldn’t think scare easily. Their knees wouldn’t buckle easily. What he’s telling you are that they were scared the situation they were in,” the media house reported.
Vybz Kartel, Shawn Campbell, Shane Williams and Kahira Jones and Andre St. John are on trial for the August 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams, believed to have been committed at Kartel’s Havendale, St Andrew house.
