Attorney wants conspiracy murder charge dropped

The lawyer who is representing Stephanie Christie, the lone female accused in the Clansman-One Don Gang trial, asked the court to find that she was not involved in any conspiracy to murder a man known as 'Ice' with the gang in 2018.

Christie, who is among 29 remaining defendants charged on an indictment that has now been reduced to 19 counts under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) Act, now faces only three counts as one has been conceded by the prosecution. Among them is that Christie and other defendants allegedly facilitated a murder conspiracy that pertains to a plot to kill a man in Ewarton, St Catherine. The court had heard evidence that Christie was part of an entourage with alleged gang leader Andre 'Blackman' Bryan that went looking for the target. She allegedly piloted the way and assisted in unsuccessful searches for him. The court also heard that prior to the trip, she had followed other alleged gangsters to Top Banks where they collected a woman who was used to carry the guns after efforts to hide them under the car's back seat failed.

But her attorney, Alexander Shaw, in his no-case submission yesterday, asked Chief Justice Bryan Sykes not to rely on the "manifestly unreliable" evidence of the Crown's main witness, an ex-gangster who claimed that he was also part of the alleged mission. Shaw argued that the witness' revelation about the guns was not in his evidence and that his explanation, when questioned about the omission, was that he had forgotten.

"We submit that these are not just mere omissions or oversight, as on the one hand he is saying he had not seen the guns any at all before going to Ewarton, and on the other hand saying he saw the guns, he tried to hide them but was unsuccessful. This is a material inconsistency that goes to the heart of the count," he argued.

He further asked the judge to consider the witness' account that the other Crown witness had been part of the group but that he had not elaborated on that piece of information nor was it corroborated by the other main witness, who is also a former gang member.

"There are no call records to show interaction and communication of devices albeit he has mentioned that persons were interacting via phones. There is no information from the Toll Authority to say that these vehicles used the North South Highway during this period as detailed by the witness," Shaw said.

The trial continues today with more no-case submissions.