Woodley says Richards shot him thrice
By Terresa McCall
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
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| Defence Force officer, Private Louis Richards who is currently on trial for the murder of Clyde Williams |
BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – “WHEN he was about 20 feet from me, I looked up. He had his gun pointing at me. I said, ‘Be careful. Mine u shoot me’. As I said that, he shot me one time…”
This was the testimony of Jevon ‘Herbie’ Woodley, one of the individuals whom Defence Force Private Louis Richards is accused of wounding.
Richards is currently standing trial for the August 3, 2008 murder of 49-year-old Clyde Williams and the wounding with intent of Addren ‘Ado’ Searles and Jevon ‘Herbie’ Woodley.
The aim of the prosecution is to prove that on the night in question, Richards was at the 2Pac Bar in Old Road, where others were congregated, and while there, shots rang out and people, including Richards began running for cover.
While hiding, Richards was made aware that he was shot in the posterior and emerged wielding his firearm and proceeded to shoot Searles and Williams in the process. The injury sustained by Williams led to his death sometime after.
The prosecution is also endeavouring to establish as true that after that incident, Richards journeyed by foot to the eastern end of Old Road with three other armed soldiers and proceeded to shoot Woodley a number of times.
Yesterday (Oct. 8), during the third day of the trial, Woodley told the court that he was shot by the soldier without any sort of provocation. He said having been in Middle Island, he arrived at Old Road sometime after 8:00 in the evening and proceeded to walk to the eastern side of Old Road.
“I was at Middle Island. I got there at about 5:00, minutes to 6:00. I left there after 8:00; I caught the bus. The bus put me off at Wingfield Road…I walked across the road, passed my house and went across by the next river by the eastern side. I stood by the mountain side then went to the seaside to sit down and was talking (to persons).” ~~Adz:Right~~
The witness told the court that it was then he looked up and saw the accused with three others approached and pointed his gun at him.
“…he shot me one time. He shoot me again. When he shoot me I ran…I ran and he shot me again,” Woodley said and added that he ran through some bushes and fell under a house. He said the first shot caught him in the thigh while the other two caught him in the vicinity of his knees.
Woodley explained that while under the house, he received a cell phone call which he did not take because he heard, “gun bussin still”.
“Somebody took me from under the house…They put me in Crispin Boon’s pickup and took me to the Joseph N. France General Hospital. He is my uncle.”
While being cross examined, Woodley denied threatening Richards on several occasions prior to that evening, he denied acting in a hostile manner when approached by the soldiers on that evening and denied hoisting his shirt and gesturing to remove a gun from his waist when approached by the soldiers.
Other witnesses’ account of the incident is that when Richards fired the first shot, Woodley “ducked” and was able to avoid being hit but was struck after he began running.
The case continues today.
