Soldier on trial for murder
Witness claimed accused threatened him

By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE trial of St. Kitts and Nevis Defence Force Private Louis Richards, accused of the shooting death of Clyde Williams, kicked off yesterday with the first three prosecution witnesses being called to take the stand.

According to the prosecution, the offence was committed on August 3, 2007 at Old Road in the vicinity of 2Pac Bar. The prosecution also stated that while Williams was the only person to have lost his life during the incident, two others, Jevon Woodley and Adrean ‘Ado’ Searles, were injured.

The prosecution is seeking to prove that on the night in question, Richards, after being shot in the posterior, indiscriminately opened fire killing one and injuring two in the process.

The first witness of the case was Forensic Pathologist Dr. Stephen Jones and, according to his testimony, when he performed the autopsy on Williams he discovered that there were two gunshot wounds; one entry and one exit. The entry wound, he said, was located at the abdomen and the exit wound at the lower back on the right hand side. He explained that the bullet passed through Williams’ right kidney and caused other damage.

Death, Dr. Jones concluded, was due to gunshot injury to the abdomen with haemorrhage and shock.   ~~Adz:Right~~

Gregory Flemming, another witness in the case, told the court that on the night of the incident, he and others were at the bar playing a game of dominoes and engaging in conversation. He said the accused was also at the bar, but seated at another table. 

Flemming said while there, he heard about three shots were fired and persons started running for cover. After the men began regrouping, the witness said he realised the accused was bleeding and pointed it out to him. Flemming said he told the accused that he would summon help for him but he refused. He also stated that the accused snatched his phone and threw it over a nearby ghaut.

The witness said it was then that the accused informed that he knew who shot him and expressed, “The first mother ‘f€@#+>@’ who pass here, dey going down.”

“I told him he can’t be that crazy. He had a pistol. I told him to put it away and he kept waving it back and forth…I kept talking to him.”

Flemming told the court that at that point, a man identified as ‘Ado’ was walking from Sandy Point’s direction while the deceased was walking from Basseterre’s direction when the accused pointed the gun towards Ado.

“Ado shouted and Louis fired…Ado took off running and Clyde asked him, ‘Why you shoot me?’ Louis took his forearm and pushed him away. People were coming around holding Clyde. I was talking to Louis telling him to put the gun down.”

Flemming testified that he continued to talk Richards into putting the gun down but he continued brandishing the firearm. The accused, he said, went to his girlfriend’s mother’s house and, sometime later, in the company of about three other gun-toting males, returned to the point at which he left him.

According to the witness, he was threatened by the accused. “Louis told me when he comes back if I am still there I am going to find out something because I know who shot him. I asked him what he mean by that. He told me don’t play stupid…”

The men, according to Flemming’s account, proceeded down the road to the point where he couldn’t see them. “I heard bullets firing again. I couldn’t see anybody but I heard bullets…”

The case resumes today when the prosecution is expected to further chip away at its 18-plus list of witnesses.