A jury heard evidence from a boat mechanic and were read a statement from a deceased witness describing the scene of the fatal shooting of Damion Ming in the Raziel Jeffers murder trial this week.
When a gunman opened fire and killed Mr. Ming in a West Bay yard on the night of March 25, 2010, mechanic Earl Stillwell Ebanks was repairing a boat in the yard.
Mr. Ebanks, the first crown witness in the trial Wednesday, said the boat’s owner had asked him to change engines because the one on the boat had been giving trouble. He started working on the boat in the yard on Birch Tree Hill Road around 3 p.m. and someone he knew came and offered to help.
Asked by Andrew Radcliffe, senior counsel for the prosecution, if anyone else was working on the boat, Mr. Ebanks replied, “Sir, I wouldn’t call it working. But there was a guy named Ming. It was like it was his engine. He was there and interested in the engine … but I wouldn’t say he was doing any work. He kept coming and going.”
Other men were also around the boat, he said.
At the time of the shooting, shortly after 9:30 p.m., Mr. Ebanks said he was on the boat, another man was on the side of the engine, and Mr. Ming was standing between two engines on the ground at the back of the boat.
While Mr. Ebanks was inside the boat, he heard a single shot, but he didn’t pay much attention. Another louder shot followed and it was then Mr. Ebanks realized it wasn’t a firecracker. He then heard rapid fire – five or six shots.
Mr. Ebanks said as he tried to get lower in the boat, he did not hear any shouts, screams or footsteps. When he got up and looked at the back of the boat, he saw a man on the side of the engine, but he did not see Mr. Ming.
The house in the yard backed onto Swallow Lane and behind the boat was an opening in the fence, the court heard. Mr. Ebanks said he saw a man on a bicycle heading west on Swallow Lane, apparently putting something in the waist of his trousers. He said he believed this was the shooter, handling a gun that was hot. He said he did not see the man’s face, but got the impression he was tall and of slim to medium build.
Under questioning by defense counsel Michael Wolkind, Mr. Ebanks said his neighbor had told him that two men got in a white car and sped off, but he did not see that.
He said he had time to see the man on the bicycle because the cyclist was barely moving, taking time to put the object he was holding into his waistband.
Mr. Wolkind suggested that Mr. Ebanks knew the work he was doing on the boat was urgent because Mr. Ming was due to be recalled to prison the next day “and with a boat, you can go far away from prison.”
Mr. Ebanks said he had no knowledge of Mr. Ming. He pointed out that the work on the boat was going to take more than one day.
Senior Crown Counsel Tricia Hutchinson then read a statement from March 31, 2010, made by Tyrone Burrell, who was shot dead in September that year.
In the statement, Mr. Burrell explained that he spent March 25 with Mr. Ming, and that “he never talked to me about any enemies.”
When the shooting occurred, Mr. Burrell said, he was playing with the boat steering. Mr. Ming was leaning against the house, watching Mr. Ebanks and the other man working on the boat. When Mr. Burrell heard the shots, he dropped down in the boat. After the shots ended, he ran to the front of the yard but didn’t see anyone. Then he ran into the house and locked the door.
A woman inside the house asked if Mr. Ming had run. She went outside and then came back and told him that Mr. Ming was dead.
Mr. Burrell stated that while he was on the boat, he did not see anyone come through the front of the yard.
A police officer told the court Wednesday that when he arrived at the scene and asked if anyone had been injured, he received no response. As he observed a piece of concrete missing from the corner of the house, a woman shouted that there was a man under the boat. He looked and saw a man but no sign that the man was alive.
Evidence from other police officers Wednesday indicated that a search of the yard turned up 9mm bullet casings.
On Thursday, the jury was to have heard evidence from the defendant’s former girlfriend. However, Justice Malcolm Swift was advised that the witness was not well, so he adjourned proceedings until Friday morning.
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