BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SERGEANT Edward Drew, the officer who headed the team that investigated the murder of Charles ‘Abaloo’ Matthew, recounted the details of his investigations which led to Wycliffe ‘Wicked’ Liburd’s arrest.
It is the prosecution’s allegation that Liburd, sometime between 10:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m. on April 18, 2008, shot Matthew multiple times while they were both at Lower Shaw Avenue. The prosecution also alleges that having done so, Matthew succumbed to his injuries.
Liburd sat in the prisoner’s dock yesterday (July 6) as the officer gave evidence on oath of his investigations and their results.
Drew said that after he received certain information on April 18, 2008, he arrived at the murder scene at the junction of Lower Shaw Avenue and Cunningham Street sometime after 11:00 a.m. and began processing it. He said the process included summoning the District Medical Officer (DMO), retrieving any spent shells and live rounds from the area and emptying the deceased’s pockets which contained a cellular phone and a sum of money and other items. All collected items, he noted, were taken into police custody.
The Sergeant indicated that later that day and during the following days, he left the Basseterre Police Station in search of Liburd; however, efforts to find him yielded no result.
He further told the court that on April 22, 2008, while he was on duty at the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) office located at the Basseterre Police Station, he received certain information. Resultantly, he, along with Constable Wyatt, went to the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police, Joseph Liburd, where he saw the accused seated.
The Sergeant explained that he identified himself to the accused and told him of the investigations, after which he informed him that he would be arresting him on suspicion of murder. He said upon stretching out his hands to be handcuffed, he discovered that his “right wrist was heavily swollen” with an “abrasion between the area of the wrist and the knuckles.”
“I asked him what happened to his hand. He told me he got it damaged while breaking down a door at his house in Sandy Point to take out his son. His house was on fire. That’s what he said.”
The officer told the court that he, along with Wyatt, escorted the young man to the CID office where he cautioned him and began the interrogation process. It was then, he explained, that the accused said, “Me ain’t shoot Abaloo. I have no reason to kill him…I was not in McKnight on Friday. Para had a case down the court. I was down there.”
His conversations with the accused, the Sergeant explained, led him to speak with and or record statements from a number of individuals including Denzil ‘Para’ Williams, Police Constable Devon Govia, Crispin Crossley and former Constable Boon. He said the information he received prompted him to carryout a “timeline exercise” to assist with his investigations.
The exercise began at the Sir Lee Llewellyn Moore Judicial and Legal Services Complex and took him to the scene of the crime. After setting two time pieces on a particular Friday morning, he set out on foot from the Complex to Shaw Avenue via the Independence Square and Central Street, making stops at Annie’s Plaza and the old church building located at the junction of Westbourne Ghaut and Central Street.
“It took me 11 minutes. I conducted the exercise to determine…if it was humanly possible for the accused to have been in the area of the Judicial Complex on that particular morning and end up at Lower Shaw Avenue to commit the offence. Based on my findings, I concluded that it was sure humanly possible.”
Liburd’s defence counsel, Warner, cross-examined the Sergeant and suggested to him that not only was his timeline exercise not scientifically proven but in order for it to be effective, he would have had to been exposed to information such as the speed at which the accused walks. In response, the Sergeant reiterated that the exercise was conducted mainly to prove or disprove Liburd’s alibi.
Earlier in the case, one of the witnesses, who said she witnessed the murder, told the court that one of the items of clothing she observed Matthew was wearing when he was shot was a mustard-coloured hoodie. The Sergeant however said that when he arrived at the scene he saw no mustard-coloured hoodie on the deceased’s body or in the area.
The same witness told the court that, as far as she was aware, the deceased was not wearing a hat or a pair of shades when he was gunned down. The Sergeant however explained that when the crime scene was being processed, a pair of shades and a hat were discovered approximately two feet from the body. These too were taken into custody.
Sergeant Drew’s testimony brought a close to the prosecution’s case and the trial is scheduled to continue today when the defence is likely to call witnesses.
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