State witness in 2005 murder trial deemed ‘hostile’

THE prosecution’s main witness against two men charged with the murder of a man some 14 years ago, was on Friday deemed a “hostile” witness after he said he no longer wanted to go through with his testimony at the trial.

Justice Hayden St Clair-Douglas granted prosecutor Candace Nanton's request to have the witness, Barry Israel Prince, deemed hostile. Nanton was allowed to cross-examine Prince.

Shortly before, Nanton was questioning Prince about a statement he gave to police on November 29, 2005, when he said, “I really don’t want to go through this.”

On trial are Colin “Mouse” Skinner and Abby Johnson, who are accused of murdering Colin George on November 23, 2005, at Quarry Street, Diego Martin.

After he was deemed a hostile witness, the prosecutor questioned Prince on the statement he gave to police. In it, he admitted to telling investigators that two weeks before the incident, he spoke to Johnson who offered him a “wuk” to “lick down” Colin.

He also admitted telling police Johnson offered him $10,000 to “lick down Colin,” and returned to Johnson’s home at Quarry Street, on November 23, and “Mouse” was there. He said “Mouse” was Johnson’s cousin and he had identified him at an identification parade on December 10. Prince, according to the statement he signed, reminded Johnson of the “scene” he spoke about the week before, and allegedly told him he “come to eat ah food,” meaning the conversation they had about “licking down” Colin.

He said a tall man was in Johnson’s yard and told him Colin was “by the pipe.”

It was at that point, according to Prince’s statement, that Johnson told “Mouse” to “go for the thing,” and Johnson pulled out a wad of money and gave him $5,000 made up of $100 bills and $1,000 in $20s.

They checked the money, and “Mouse” returned with a “chrome” gun, which was given to Prince.

According to the statement, which Prince admitted telling police, he was told to “swing and shoot the man” but he held the gun and looked at it, telling Johnson, “I don’t like to kill with people gun because I don’t know how many bodies it had on that gun.”

He also admitted telling the police he would go for his gun, but deep down he had no intention of killing Colin, but only wanted to “rob Abby.”

“I wanted to duck him the money.”

In the statement, according to Prince, Johnson allegedly said, “Nah, he have to dead tonight,” and Johnson took the money and gun, but left Prince with the $1,000 in $20 bills.

Johnson then allegedly gave the gun to “Mouse,” and told him, “Make sure and fix Colin tonight.”

Prince told police Skinner left the yard with the tall man – whose name he does not know – and Prince followed both men. He said he saw Colin standing by a standpipe and heard him singing Jamaican dancehall artist Sizzla’s Guide Over Us when he saw Skinner raise his hand and point the gun at Colin. Prince said he heard about six explosions, saw flames coming out of the gun and heard Colin bawl out and fall on the side of the standpipe on a heap of sand.

He allegedly told police he went back to Johnson’s home, where he saw “Mouse” return the gun to Johnson, who wiped it with a black handkerchief.

Prince said he left the house and stood in the road, where he saw people rushing to the area where Colin had been shot and the ambulance pass by. He also saw Colin’s girlfriend washing down the blood and he started to feel sick, after which he left and went home to Carenage.

About a week later, he went to the police and voluntarily gave a statement, and the next month, he identified Skinner in the police line-up.

The trial continues on Monday. Skinner is represented by attorney Ian Brooks. Attorney Larry Williams is representing Johnson.