No malfunction of husband’s gun

THERE is no malfunction of the trigger or hammer mechanism of the gun used to shoot Michael Modeste in 2007.

Acting director of the Forensic Science Centre, Derrick Sankar, yesterday tested the Smith and Wesson revolver tendered into evidence by the prosecution in the trial of Garth Richards, who is accused of attempting to murder Modeste on October 13, 2007.

Sankar’s tests, using a trigger pull gauge, were done in court for the jury and judge, Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas. He also explained how the gun works.

In his testimony, Sankar said the gun was functioning normally and could not be accidentally discharged without pulling the trigger because of a hammer block in the gun.

Sankar did not do tests on the gun in 2007, but said his colleague Paul Brown, in his report and notes, did not record anything unusual about the gun.

“That would have been noted.”

It is Richards’ contention that the gun “went off” in one motion.

In his testimony earlier this week, he said, when he saw Modeste in his bedroom, “with a reflex action...with me feeling threatened, and in one motion, it went off.” He also testified that when Modeste came towards him, his service revolver “came out and it went off.”

Richards was an estate constable with G4S security firm, when it is alleged he went home to 22nd Street, Beetham Gardens, and shot Modeste, who is alleged to have been having an affair with Richards’ wife.

Modeste claimed he was shot after he and Nicole Richards “did a thing” in her bedroom.

She denied this yesterday when she returned to complete her evidence.

She denied coming to court to lie for her husband so that their family can reunite. They are separated, with Richards living in El Socorro and she at Beetham Gardens.

Richards also denied Modeste broke off their sexual relationship after the shooting.

Yesterday, she was questioned by state prosecutor Joy Balkaran on several inconsistencies in her testimony at her husband’s High Court trial, the magisterial proceedings and her statement to police.

All the evidence in the trial has ended, and the jury will return next week, when Richards’ lawyer Lennox Sankersingh and Balkaran will make their closing addresses, after which the jurors will be called on to deliberate on the evidence and arrive at a verdict.