Chief Sykes Again Raises Questions About Missing Evidence

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes continues to question the absence of physical evidence in the Klansman Gang Trial. On Monday two police witnesses and a civilian took to the stand, giving evidence against alleged gang leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Byran and 32 of his co-accused.

During the trial Chief Justice Bryan Sykes again questioned the absence of physical evidence. A forensic investigator who processed the scene of a crime allegedly committed by members of the One Don Klansman Gang in February 2018 was called to the stand on Monday. 

The police witness says he went to the Spanish Town bus park in St. Catherine to collect potential physical evidence of the murder of a bus operator known as ‘Tandibay’ and that seven spent casings were observed and marked, trailing from Burke Road to the entrance of the bus park. He photographed the area and collected the evidence, then went to the Spanish Town police station where he further examined a Toyota Hiace coaster bus. There he says he observed bullet holes to the driver’s side of the bus door and bloodstains in the driver’s seat as well as a damaged bullet. Those were also photographed; The police witness then visited the hospital and photographed the body of the deceased.

All that evidence he says was submitted to the government’s laboratory. They were downloaded to an external hard drive placed on three separate compact discs and placed on the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s secured server at the imaging unit.

But when Chief Justice Bryan Sykes enquired of the whereabouts of this evidence, the police witness says he was unable to locate them after a thorough search. He however says that all protocols were followed and a search is still underway to locate the images. Meanwhile, chief justice sykes questioned the prosecution team as to how many more witnesses are left to take the stand…

They were unable to answer definitively but said that not many witnesses remain. The court learned that the prosecution is now in receipt of call data records as well as text messages allegedly between gang members. The recordings and conversations were previously analyzed by the communication forensic and Cyber Crime Division, CFCD.