“Lumumba was shooting at me”…Dion Berry testifies
Witness admits lying to Police
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| Dion Berry( L ) told the court yesterday that he saw the #1 accused in the case, Lumumba Matthew, shooting at him and he also placed #2 accused, Justin Bass on the scene of the crime. Dion's brother, Darren ( R ) was killed during the attack |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – DION BERRY faced his alleged attackers yesterday seemingly without fear, as he told the court of the moments leading to and following the incident that left his brother dead and himself seriously injured.
On Friday, January 12, 2007, Dion and his 18- year-old brother, Darren Berry, were travelling in the Bayford’s area en route to their farm when they were attacked with gunfire. Darren, who was shot thrice to the body, died on the spot.
Consequently, St. Peters residents, Lumumba Matthew and Justin Bass were arrested and charged with the murder of Darren Berry and the attempted murder of Dion Berry.
During Dion’s testimony, he explained to the court that on the day of the incident he and his brother were in Basseterre and had visited J’s Shop & Save Grocery and Fulton Bakery before heading for Monkey Hill, where they visited a friend from whom they borrowed two DVDs. Following the visit, to two men headed for their farm via Bayfords in Dion’s black, right-hand-drive Suzuki Samurai. Dion was the driver and Darren sat in the front passenger seat.
“We never got to the farm. We were attacked by number one (Lumumba Matthew) and number two accused (Justin Bass). We
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Justin Bass
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were shot. My brother was killed. The jeep crashed…Number one accused ran up to my side of the vehicle and start to shoot.
He was shooting with a hand gun. I saw the gun in his hand. I was hit with bullets…The number one accused was less than five feet away from me when he came upon me and started shooting…I don’t know how many shots the number one accused fired at me. I couldn’t count.”
Dion told the court that he was shot several times and sustained injuries to both arms including his left thumb, left index, left wrist, left upper arm, right wrist, right index and right upper arm.
Dion further explained that after he was shot he exited vehicle and went to the driver’s side to see about his brother, but saw that he was motionless.
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Lumumba Matthew
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“We heard shots coming from the left but could not see who it was. That’s when I saw Mumba (the number one accused) coming at me shooting…The first thing I did was to exit the vehicle and that’s when I saw number two accused, Justin Bass, running to the side where Mumba was. I went straight to my brother.
He never moved…I was calling out to him, he never moved…I tried to touch my brother but I couldn’t because my arms were injured. I couldn’t manoeuver my arms…I was calling out for help…I tried to walk to Cayon but had to turn back because I felt weak…”
According to Dion’s testimony, Matthew was wearing a navy blue T-shirt and long dark jeans and Bass was attired in a navy blue shirt, long jeans and black boots. Their faces, he said, were uncovered.
Dion said he was able to use his cellular phone and contact his father who arrived on the scene some 20 minutes later with security personnel.
Jermaine Isaac of Lower Monkey Hill, a friend of Matthew, also testified yesterday.
Isaac said sometime between 12:45 p.m. and 1:00 p.m. he was asked by Matthew to take him into the hills in Phillips’ and he complied using the Lower Monkey Hill/Bayfords route. ~~Adz:Left~~
“On my way, we stopped in Stapleton to get a drink from a shop then we headed to Phillips’. We stopped again somewhere in the hills to ask farmers for the land of a person. I don’t know the name of the person he asked for. They pointed us in the direction of the farm and we headed there…We had to go up a hill and saw a jeep coming down and a rastaman was driving. He stopped our vehicle and asked who we were looking for and Mumba answered. He replied and said that no one was up there so we should turn around, which I did. I dropped off Lumba at John England Village. It was about 2:00-2:15…”
Isaac told the court that he next spoke with his friend between 8:30 and 9:00 that evening.
“He called me via cell phone. He told me that it had a shooting in Bayfords and Police were looking for him. I asked him why, he said he don’t know. He asked if I could tell the Police that he was with me. He did not specify what time. I told him that once he’s sure that it was the time he was with me, it’s okay.”
The witness admitted in court that he lied when he gave his first statement to the Police, by indicating that he had dropped Matthew off at his home at 4:00 p.m. rather than between 2:00-2:15 p.m. In providing a reason for his false statement, Isaac told the court that he was doing Matthew a favour but it could have resulted in him being suspended or fired from his job.
Some 10 prosecution witnesses have already given evidence and when court resumes on Monday, the prosecution team is expected to call the remaining five witnesses in the case.
