A man accused of driving over and killing his former client during a violent confrontation has told a Grand Court jury that he was in fear for his life, and was trying to escape his aggressor at the time of the collision.
The defendant, Bryan Roy Welcome, 39, faces murder charge concerning the death of Omar Ryan, which he denies.
Welcome accepts that he was the driver of the black Audi A3 that struck Ryan, leaving him with significant internal injuries, on the night of 8 July 2023, in the parking lot of a warehouse complex off David Foster Drive in George Town. However, he claims he hit him with the car in self-defence.
Taking to the stand on Wednesday, 22 May, Welcome told the jury that he and Ryan had developed a business relationship, during which he had extended Ryan a line of credit for grocery produce items. However, the relationship soured sometime in December 2022.
“Once we get to know a client, we allow them to get things on credit, it typically takes about three months for us to get to know them,” Welcome told the jury.
He added, “Once they buy things on credit, they then have seven days or one week to pay for the items… so if they took it on credit on a Monday, then the following Monday they would have to pay the bill.”
The jury heard that in December 2022, Ryan was credited $350 worth of items but refused to pay, as he claimed some of the goods spoiled before he could sell them.
“We wrote off the bill for $350, so he didn’t have to pay that, but there was an outstanding balance of $50 for a completely unrelated bill,” Welcome said.
Outstanding $50 balance
Welcome told the jury that, after writing off Ryan’s debt in December 2022, he did not see him again until a chance encounter on the night of the fatal collision.
In CCTV footage showing Welcome’s movements an hour prior to the collision, he can be seen closing up his grocery store on Shedden Road, in George Town, and taking a case of water to deliver for a client.
“When I got to the plaza, I saw him and made a joke and said, ‘You rich now, man, you can pay me the $50 you owe me,’” Welcome told the jury, adding that he thought nothing of it and left.
However, after spending a few minutes in the store completing the delivery, he returned to find his car had been blocked in by Ryan who was becoming increasingly aggressive.
In the video, which had no audio recording, Ryan can be seen using his Honda Stepwgn to block Welcome, before exiting and pointing towards Welcome’s car.
“He kept saying he was a bad man and that he was going to block me in,” Welcome told the court. “He drew an X, saying I would never get the money, and that I dissed him.”
Heated confrontation ensues
The initial confrontation lasted approximately two and a half minutes and played out in the presence of Welcome’s young son.
After other customers began complaining about not being able to access the complex, Ryan moved his van, clearing the path for them to come and go, but still blocking Welcome. Eventually, he drove off, allowing Welcome to leave.
“I chose to go the opposite direction from him, although that was my normal route to my warehouse,” he told the court.
The video shows that when Welcome drove off, Ryan quickly turned his van around and began following him.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the warehouse seconds apart, where Ryan had again positioned his van in a manner that would block Welcome’s car.
Security cameras in the complex recorded the second confrontation, in which Ryan can be seen exiting his vehicle and behaving in an aggressive manner.
Minutes later, Welcome can be seen reversing his car, repositioning it almost perfectly in line with Ryan, before speeding off, hitting and dragging Ryan for several feet, running over him and parking the car out of the line of sight of the camera a few feet away.
I was in fear for my life
“I was in shock and confused, I’m still in shock, I’m still confused,” Welcome told the jury. “I still cannot figure out why he came to the warehouse. I believed he came to the warehouse to kill me or do me harm, and my son.”
While being questioned by his attorney Dean George, KC, Welcome said he could not see what was in Ryan’s hand due to the lighting at the time and became fearful that he was in possession of a gun.
“At the time, I was sure he had a gun, and I just wanted to get out of there, I was in fear for my life and my son’s life,” he said.
Welcome said he didn’t mean to harm or kill Ryan, despite the fact that he could be heard telling Ryan he would kill him as he lay dying on the ground.
On the CCTV recording, Ryan, who went by the name ‘Blacks’, can be seen struggling to get to his feet and staggering to the rear of his Stepwgn van, where he collapses once again.
“Mi wi kill yuh [expletive],” Welcome could be heard shouting as he returned to the scene on foot.
“Blacks, mi tell yuh fi give me [expletive] money, and all now,” shouted Welcome as he approached Ryan.
“Yu ah fahla mi like ah me owe yuh money, yuh a eedeyat?” shouted Welcome as he kicked Ryan in the head.
When asked why he told Ryan he would kill him, Welcome told the court it was “an attempt to ward off the attack”.
A few moments later Welcome called 911 to report the incident, which eventually ended in Ryan’s death and Welcome’s arrest.
The trial continues Thursday, at which point Assistant Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Scott Wainwright is expected to cross-examine Welcome.
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