The prosecution on Monday concluded its case against Roger Davard Bush, who is accused of gunning down his own son.
While giving his closing remarks, attorney Andrew Radcliffe, QC, told Justice Marlene Carter, that despite the “tremendous and credible evidence” presented against Bush, he has not openly stated his defence.
“Even now, at the end of the prosecution’s case, it is not clear what Mr. Bush’s defence is,” said Radcliffe. “He has not stated whether it is a case of alibi, or self-defence.”
Bush is on trial for a charge of murder, which alleges he ambushed his 24-year-old son, Shaquille Bush, in a yard they shared, shooting him 14 times, before firing a final shot to the back of the head, while he begged for his life.
“We say that the actions of the defendant before and after the shooting is clearly not that of an innocent person,” said Radcliffe. “He was in the yard when the shooting occurred, and if he did not commit the shooting, why did he not contact the emergency services himself, as his own son laid dying in a pool of his own blood?”
Roger Bush refrained from giving evidence
At the end of the prosecution’s case, Roger Bush was given a chance to give evidence in his own defence, which he choose not to do, despite a warning from Justice Carter that his silence could be used as a negative inference against him when contemplating her verdict.
Instead of taking the stand, Bush sat in the dock and listened as his attorney Oliver Blunt, QC, refuted the prosecution’s evidence as “a thoroughly fictitious narrative”.
“When contemplating this case, it is important to consider the mindset of [Nikkieta Ebanks] whose account of this entire incident is a thoroughly fictitious narrative,” said Blunt.
Ebanks was the defendant’s then partner and the mother of his youngest child, whom, the prosecution alleged, Roger Bush believed had really been fathered by Shaquille – a contention the defence denied.
“It is clear from her most private and hidden WhatsApp messages that Nikkieta hated Davard Bush,” said Blunt. “Her message states, I [expletive] hate him… I hate him with a perfect hatred.”
Blunt added that the messages reflected Ebanks’s anger towards the defendant following an incident of domestic violence where he physically assaulted her, and that those messages are proof that neither she nor her cousin, who also gave evidence, were credible witnesses.
Both women testified that Bush confessed to the killing of Shaquille Bush.
A string of other suspects
Blunt told the court there was no evidence to support the claims that Roger Bush and his son had any ill feelings towards each other over the alleged rumours. He pointed instead to a rivalry between Shaquille Bush and Jousha ‘Patchy’ Ebanks of an enemy gang.
The court heard that several weeks before Shaquille’s murder, tensions sparked between the two men, after Patchy threatened to stab him. Not long after that, Shaquille Bush is said to have threatened to shoot Patchy, who in turn later threatened to shoot Bush.
“This was not just a simple case of enemy gangs warring over turf space. Rather, this was a case where both men from separate gangs were messing around with each other’s women,” said Blunt.
“In fact, there is credible information that leading up to the shooting, Patchy was working with a group of Jamaicans to exact revenge on Shaquille over a ganja issue,” added Blunt.
My client ‘was and is a drug dealer’
Blunt told the court there were other reasons why his client ran from the scene and choose to distance himself from the location instead of calling the police.
“We have been very frank and forthcoming that Roger Davard Bush was and is a drug dealer; that is to say, he sells drugs, specifically ganja, for a living,” said Blunt. “It has been disclosed and we have accepted that when Mr. Bush went to the UK he learned about hydroponics and, upon his return to Cayman, he employed the same system, which increased his ganja production.”
Blunt added, “The number of gunshots, some 15, was bound to attract police attention and, therefore, anyone with that considerable amount of ganja would inevitably flee the scene.”
“In addition to the people who left the scene,” he said, “there is evidence, which has been admitted, of a group of Jamaicans who left the area shortly after the shooting. Who were they, why were they there and where did they go?”
Gun never recovered
The gun used to kill Shaquille Bush was never recovered. A ballistics report from the RCIPS shows the gun was used in two other killings and a string of shootings and robberies that date back as far as 2016.
“It is clear that this was a gun for hire,” said Blunt, “which means Mr. Bush would not have had the gun on him, and would not have been able to retrieve, based on the timeline of events.”
Blunt did not state what Roger Bush was doing at the time of the shooting. Instead, he told the court, his actions were consistent of a man keen on rebuilding a strained relationship with a woman who hated him.
Roger Bush denies the charge. He remains in custody.
Justice Carter is expected to return her verdict at a later date.
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