Blackman’s lawyer calls for his acquittal

While labelling the prosecution's two main witnesses as "bad" and "unreliable" attestors, the lead attorney for reputed Clansman-One Don Gang leader, Andre 'Blackman' Bryan, yesterday asked the judge to reject the ex-gangsters' evidence and acquit his client.

Senior counsel Lloyd McFarlane stressed that the two ex-thugs' evidence should not be relied on as no independent evidence was presented to corroborate their claims about his client. He said that the court could not trust their utterances while noting that even the prosecution's own evidence, the secretly recorded voice conversation of the alleged gangsters, had contradicted one of the witness' testimonies.

The two witnesses had identified themselves as Bryan's drivers with one doubling as the gang's banker. The other, who said he was later promoted to second in command, and was given a community don title, also claimed that he was Bryan' trusted confidant. But McFarlane, during his closing address in the Home Circuit Court, argued that it was dangerous to accept their evidence without independent evidence. He noted that his client had been found not guilty in eight of 17 counts and submitted that the prosecution has still not satisfied the court with corroborating evidence in respect to the nine remaining counts. He pointed to several instances in which he felt the prosecution had missed the mark including the August 2018 murder of Damaine 'Doolie' Forrester at Chancery Street in St Andrew, and the double murder and arson in New Nursery, Fisheries in St Catherine in September 2018.

Both witnesses had led evidence that Bryan ordered and planned Forrester's murder and that the gangsters were sent three times by him to kill the man before they succeeded. Forrester was reportedly marked for death because of his affiliation with a rival faction of the Clansman Gang. But McFarlane said the Crown did not submit any independent evidence and suggested that the ex-gangsters' evidence contradicted each other. He noted that one said that both had travelled in the same car while the other said he was in a separate car.

In relation to the murder-arson, the former don had testified that Bryan was among two groups of gangsters that went to "shell down" Fisheries on the night in question and that Bryan took a gun from his bodyguard, defendant Tareek James, and shot the male while James shot the female. The other witness had also testified that he was present when the men were planning the attack but that he did not go to the community as he was sent to scout the road. But again, McFarlane argued that the Crown had failed to provide any evidence to substantiate the witness's claim that Bryan was present or that he had shot and killed anyone. McFarlane pointed to evidence that Bryan had instructed him to collect $150,000 from one of their alleged cronies to purchase a gun. However, the attorney pointed out that in one of the secret voice recordings which was played at the trial, a man identified as Citipuss was heard giving instructions to the witness about the money and how much he should take for himself. Citipuss was identified during the trial as defendant Jason Brown, the gang's deputy commander.

"This is an illustration of why it is dangerous to rely on the cowardly don, the only don who never carried a gun," McFarlane said. He said the evidence contradicted the prosecution's witness. The defence lawyers will continue their closing arguments when the trial resumes today.