Murder witness recalls social evening

The trial for Raziel Jeffers continues this week on charges of murder, attempted murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm, with Jeffers accused of fatally shooting Marcus Leon Ebanks and attempting to kill four other people, two of whom were wounded. 

The last of the four, Al Martino Bush – known as Joe – told the court of the social gathering in a yard off Bonaventure Road on the evening of 8 July, 2009. 

It was his mother’s home and he lived there with her, his brother Joseph Hurlston and other family members. 

On the day of the incident, he got home from work after 4pm. When the incident occurred, he was outside, sitting on a concrete foundation wall with Marcus, Rodney Ebanks and Adryan Powell; José Guadalupe Sanchez was sitting in a chair facing them. His brother Joseph and nephew Matthew were around, but not outside when the shooting occurred. 

Defence attorney Peter Champagnie asked him, “What were you all doing out there?” The witness replied, “Drinking.” 

Asked if the drink were coffee of tea, he said Hennessy and Heineken (a cognac and a beer). 

The attorney asked, “And were all of you drinking?” The witness replied, “No, sir, not everybody.” He agreed that his statement said, “We were all outside sitting talking and drinking.” 

Joe also agreed he was smoking cigarettes and ganja. Mr. Champagnie put to him, “You were all out there socialising, drinking and smoking.” The witness replied, “Yes.” 

In re-examination, prosecutor Andrew Radcliffe asked if Joe had been drunk. He said no – he had had two Heinekens and one shot of Hennessy. 

In his evidence, Joe referred to some in the group as youngsters. Court records show that, at the time of the shooting, Adryan was 14; Rodney was 18; Marcus was 21 and José was 22. Joe himself was the oldest at 33 and Joseph was 27. 

The incident occurred 11 days before the defendant turned 26. 

Asked about the shooting, Joe said he saw two people in dark clothing walking on Bonaventure Road coming toward the house. When they got to the pathway they were moving kind of fast and he could see their faces were covered. Each had his hand under his shirt. Joe said he called to the rest of the group “Whoa, whoa! Check this out!” He said everybody turned and faced the two people coming. He jumped up and ran inside the house. As soon as he got inside he heard what sounded like gunshots, about 14. 

After he didn’t hear any more shots, he came back out. People were crying and screaming. He saw Adryan and Rodney on the ground. Marcus had left the yard. 

He did not see the gunman after he dashed into the house. He said one was 6 feet and a couple of inches, while the other was less than 6 feet. 

There was a light bulb outside and it was on at the time. He estimated it could light up 40 to 50 feet. He agreed with the defence that the night was dark in general. 

April Manderson Wright told the court she lived next door to the yard where the shooting took place. She had just got home when she heard shots. She started to go next door when Marcus came running. She asked if he had been shot and he said yeah. Then his eyes rolled in his head and he shouted, “My brother!”  

Marcus began to fall and she gave him to her cousin, saying he should be kept on his side because of the blood in his mouth. She phoned 911 at 7.48pm. She stored the call in her phone. Then she ran to the yard where the shooting took place. Adryan was struggling and had a lot of blood on his face. Matthew was in the house and he threw a cushion outside; she put it under Adryan’s head to keep his head higher than his heart. She talked with Rodney, who was face down on the steps of the house. While she was assisting the boys, she saw Peto (José Sanchez) get into a car and leave. 

When police came, she went back to her house. She took Marcus’ pulse, but didn’t get one. 

Rodney Manderson told the court he went to the yard after hearing gunshots. He noticed a person lying on the ground and said “Peto”. The person raised his head and he realised it was Adryan. But the two looked similar then and it was dark. 

The prosecution read a statement from meteorologist Kerry Powery about weather conditions between 7 and 8pm on 8 July, 2009. There was less than one-eighth total cloud cover. Sunset was at 7.12pm and 7.30pm was considered twilight. There could have been sufficient ambient light for visual operation without the aid of artificial light, but this was subject to deterioration of ambient light depending on the distance away from the west coast.