Charford Court man goes on trial for 2009 murder

A MAN from Charford Court, Port of Spain, has gone on trial for the 2009 murder of a Harpe Place man.

Shirvan Toussaint, also known as "Buddies" and "Tallman," is before Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds in a judge-only trial.

He is accused of the murder of Michael “Boy Boy” Mader, 21, of Harpe Place, Oxford Street, and the attempted murder of Sparkle Williams on September 28, 2009.

He is also on firearm-related charges.

Williams testified on September 23. Lead defence attorney Mario Merritt asked if she knew about gang activity in “The Harpe” or Charford Court.

“I do not know about gang activity in the Harpe or Charford Court.”

She was also asked if her “ex” was a man called “Fresh,” or if her brother was the “famous Sunday.”

“My ex was not a man called Fresh. He was not my ex. You was (sic) told wrong.

“Fresh was not my boyfriend.”

Williams also said while she was accustomed to people in “The Harpe,” she did not know any gang members.

“I knew Fresh, and I knew the accused liming with Fresh. We live in the neighbourhood, in the same area. I don’t know him through Fresh.

“I don’t know if he was friends with Fresh. I do not know his friends, I do not know his family. I just know by seeing him, I don’t know he mother, he sister or his friends.

“I am not academically inclined. I am not dumb. I know what I saw. The accused kill Boy Boy.”

Before the shooting, Williams had gone to visit her sister at the maternity ward of the Port of Spain General Hospital, after dropping off her nephew at Harpe Place.

On her way to the hospital, she passed two men at a table at Charford Court. One of them, she said, was Toussaint.

Mader was her sister’s boyfriend. After visiting her sister, she and Mader were on their way back when, as they reached the alley on Oxford Street, Toussaint called out to Boy Boy.

She said “Boy Boy told Toussaint, 'Buddies, what you talking about?' before Toussaint pulled out a gun and Boy Boy grabbed his hand and they got into a scuffle. She said she then heard “a lot of shots.”

She said she was going to help by kicking Toussaint “in the balls,” when she heard “a lot of shots,” and then he shot behind her.

Williams said she ran to Harpe Place and told everyone, “Look, they now kill Boy Boy.”

Two days later, she said she identified Toussaint as Mader’s shooter in an identification parade at the Central Police Station.

Williams insisted she saw Toussaint shoot Mader.

“I saw him as clear as day.”

She also said when Boy Boy addressed Toussaint as “Buddies,” she relayed that to her sister in the hospital and, “She say his real name is Shirvan Toussaint,” in response to Merritt’s claim that his client was known as “Tallman.”

Williams also denied knowing Toussaint worked in the US on a six-month basis so he would not be in TT for six months at a time.

“I don’t know this man's business. I know what he did. He kill Boy Boy in front of me. I don’t know his personal business.”

Williams insisted she was speaking the truth when she identified Toussaint as the shooter, and was not making a false statement against him.

“When Buddies get charge, he call from jail saying he has a piece of paper with my name on it saying I ‘swear him’ away…When I point he out, he wanted to point out other people for murder because I point he out.”

She explained that to "swear away” is to give a false statement against somebody.

However, she maintained, “He is not innocent. He know what he did.

“I am telling you, Buddies kill Boy Boy. You was not there,” she told Merritt in one of many heated exchanges between the two.

Before Williams gave evidence, prosecutor Charmaine Samuel admitted the evidence of PC Alister Cowie, Dr Leandra Blake and police photographer Nigel Beddoe.

Williams returns on September 30 to continue her evidence.