Jury hears evidence in murder trial

Police Inspector Kurt Walton of the Criminal Investigation Department gave evidence on Friday in the trial of Carlos Russell, who is accused of murdering Philip Watler in March 2005.

Mr. Walton was in charge of investigations the week of 28 March 2005 when, he told the court, there were a number of occurrences in succession that were of serious magnitude.

The first incident was the shooting at Pirates Cove bar in East End, which occurred just before midnight on Monday 28 March. The victim was Sheldon Brown.

The following night (Tuesday, 29 March) there was a shooting at the residence of Carlos Russell in Pease Bay. Mr. Walton said he was off duty, but got the call about 11.30pm. In court he detailed his conversations with Russell at Russell’s home that night.

Mr. Walton said the next time he saw Russell was Wednesday, 30 March around 2 – 2.30pm at Central Police Station.

The jury has already heard that Philip Watler was shot sometime around 1.30 – 1.45pm at the George Town Hospital and Russell was arrested shortly afterwards.

Solicitor General Cheryll Richards, who is conducting the case for the Prosecution, asked the inspector if he knew of any association between Philip Watler and Sheldon Brown.

Mr. Walton said he had personally taken a statement from Sheldon and had been told that the two men attended a session at Pirates Cove Bar and Watler transported him to the hospital. So there was clearly an association.

After Russell’s home was shot at on the Tuesday night, Mr. Walton said he spoke to Russell and asked if everyone was okay. Russell said yes, adding, ‘But the baby, big boss, they almost kill the baby’ – referring to a two-year-old who lived in the house at the time and described as Russell’s granddaughter.

Mr. Walton said he reassured Russell that a full investigation would be conducted and no stones would be left unturned. He said Russell told him, ‘Big boss, this thing is too big for you.’

The witness said he remained at Russell’s house until 4.45am as officers examined the crime scene. During that time he and Russell spoke on a number of occasions. Russell reemphasised that ‘they’ almost killed the baby. He said if ‘they’ tried to take him out on the street that was one issue. But to come to his home was a total separate matter.

On another occasion Russell used the name ‘Cockroach’ and told Mr. Walton, ‘You all need to get rid of the cockroach. He’s going to destroy your country because he’s spoiling the minds of the youth, them.’

Mr. Walton said he told the defendant that police had to stick within the boundaries of the law, but they would conduct a full investigation.

Ms Richards asked if the witness had an understanding of who Russell was talking about. Mr. Walton said yes, through previous independent acknowledgement from other persons he understood Cockroach to be Sheldon Brown. He did ask Russell who he was talking about, but Russell looked at him, smiled and said – you know who I’m talking about.

Around 4.45am, arrangements were made for officers to return at 9am to complete internal examination of the scene and take a statement. At that point, Mr. Walton said, he had not gotten any details and Russell had not given him any names. When he had asked what happened, Russell said he was in no mood to talk.

A week later, on 7 April, Mr. Walton got details of a statement about the house incident. The names he got from Russell were Matio Dinall and Philip Watler.

Ms Richards asked if there were any reason for that intervening time period. Mr. Walton indicated the week of 28 March was probably the busiest week of serious incidents in the Cayman Islands’ history.

Ms Richards suggested to the witness that, for the avoidance of doubt, there was no evidence that Russell was involved in the first shooting on the Monday. Mr. Walton said that was correct.

In cross-examination, Howard Hamilton QC asked if it was fair to say that the whole island was stunned by the news of the assault on the house with such a high-power weapon. Mr. Walton said he could speak for the persons who had come up to him and said – What’s going on? What is Cayman coming to?

Mr. Walton confirmed that Russell testified in the case of the Queen versus Matio Dinall.

He also confirmed that he had gone to the hospital and had swabbed the hands of the deceased for gunshot residue. He became aware that the test result was positive, but he did not know whether that was for both hands.

He also agreed that in his notes about the incident at Russell’s house he had described Russell as subdued and withdrawn as if contemplating the situation.

Last week the jury also heard from a forensic examiner in the field of firearms from the FBI in Quantico Virginia. Items he examined included a revolver attributed to Carlos Russell, a pistol fired by an officer outside the hospital and a variety of ammunition, both fired and not fired.

The pathologist who conducted the post-mortem examination on the deceased told the court of the gunshot wounds he found. There were two shots to the lower back and one shot to the head. A bullet he recovered was handed to the police officer present.

Defendant’s comments reported

Three police officers gave evidence last week about comments they said Carlos Russell had made while in custody following his arrest after the shooting incident at the hospital.

One constable said he was in the corridor outside the custody area where the defendant was. He reported hearing Russell say, ‘You gotta let me go and finish what I started.’

He said Russell was sweating, verbally agitated and pointed in what he was saying, but physically calm.

Another officer said she saw Russell in the custody area with police officers. She said he was sweating and upset, saying the officers had come too early; he had needed to finish his job. He was saying something about a baby, but she didn’t know what.

Another constable, who drove Russell to court the same afternoon of the shooting, said that on the way to court the defendant was still uttering words about the baby room. Then a newscast came over the radio that the person shot had succumbed to his injuries. The defendant then said, ‘Me kill the —– who was standing guard at the door.’