Defence queries witness motives

Megan Martinez, the young woman who has a child with Raziel Jeffers, was questioned on Wednesday about her motives for giving evidence during his trial for murder and attempted murder. 

Ms Martinez previously told Justice Charles Quin that Raziel had told her he shot Marcus Leon Ebanks by mistake on the night of 8 July, 2009, thinking he was zeroing in on José Sanchez, his intended target. 

Defence attorney Peter Champagnie pointed to direct contradictions in the statements she gave police days after the shooting incident and then in May 2010.  

He asked if Ms Martinez was jealous because Jeffers became involved with another woman. The defence attorney asked her “are you a jealous personality?” 

She replied, “I don’t think so.” 

In July 2009, she was living with Jeffers and their baby was about 3 months old.  

In 2010, she and the baby were living in Raziel’s father’s house; he had been living there also, but by April she didn’t know where he was staying. She thought it was with a particular woman, but she didn’t have confirmation. 

Mr. Champagnie asked if she was in a particular programme and she agreed she was. Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Trevor Ward earlier told the court Ms. Martinez was a protected witness. Under cross-examination, she said it would be two years in May that she had been in a programme. She agreed that the programme provided her with shelter and “some means of monetary assistance”.  

Mr. Champagnie suggested she was “a professional witness” and lying. She said no. 

Ms Martinez explained her situation. She had turned 17 in January, 2009; her baby was born in March, 2009.  

“Raziel was the father of my child. He was my legal guardian at the time. I had no parents. Social Services signed me over to him. Raziel and his people were the only help I had to raise my child. Not only that, I loved him. I still care for him,” she said. 

Raziel Jeffers was 25 when the baby was born. 

Regarding her statement to police days after the shooting, Ms Martinez asked if Mr. Champagnie was blaming her for protecting her baby’s father when he asked her to. 

Mr. Champagnie asked her if a policeman from the UK had helped her get a birth certificate for her child and she agreed. 

He reminded her that she had said Raziel told her about the shooting in March 2010. He asked why she had waited until May to tell police. 

He suggested that she had not trusted local officers, but felt comfortable with a woman officer from the UK who was very accommodating.  

“I would say she was very professional in her job,” Ms Martinez said.  

The attorney pointed out that she had gone to a police station on 9 April, 2010. By that time she was 18 and Raziel was no longer her legal guardian – so why had she not told police then about Raziel’s alleged confession? Ms Martinez said she had asked to speak to the sergeant but was told the sergeant was busy and she should sit and wait. Meantime, the officer at the desk, who was a friend of Raziel’s, called him and told him she was there. 

She said she did not recall if she had put that in a statement, but Raziel had told her that was how he knew where she was. 

Mr. Champagnie asked why Raziel would make this alleged confession to her when there was so much mistrust in their relationship.  

“Everybody knows you have ups and downs,” she said. “There were times that were peaceful. There were many times he spoke to me about private things, like when his grandfather was dying.” 

Prosecutor Andrew Radcliffe asked if Raziel had confessed to her or not.  

“I don’t know if I should call it a confession or not,” she said. He asked if what she had told the court was correct. She said yes. 

She also said there were a lot of contributing factors that led her to tell police about the confession.  

One day police picked her up at school and then dropped her at the house. She had agreed to think things over, but that was not her plan.  

She had a key to the Jeffers’ father’s house, where she had been staying with her baby, but she returned one day to find the lock changed. There were garbage bags outside and when she checked them she found her clothes. But there was nothing of the baby’s. She thought Raziel’s family was trying to kidnap the baby and that was what led her to give her statement to police.