Solicitor General Cheryll Richards opened the Prosecution’s case against Carlos Russell on Tuesday morning, outlining evidence she said jurors would hear about the murder of Philip Wayne Watler at the government hospital last year.

She cautioned that what she said was not evidence, but a summary of what the Crown’s witnesses would say.

The incident occurred at the George Town Hospital on the afternoon of 30 March 2005. Ms Richards noted that police officers would not ordinarily have been at the hospital, but they were assigned there that day because of the presence of a named patient.

Philip Watler, wearing an orange T-shirt, was seen standing outside the hospital near the entrance to the ambulance bay area of the Accident and Emergency Department.

A police officer upstairs in the Intensive Care Unit area saw Mr. Watler turn and run straight under where the witness was standing. Then the officer saw the defendant running in the same direction with what appeared to be a firearm in his hand, and wearing a bullet-proof vest.

A nurse on duty in the ambulatory chemotherapy section saw two men run through into the Emergency Room. The man in front wore an orange shirt. The man in the rear had something shiny in his hand and wore what she believed to be a bullet-proof vest.

Within seconds, she heard loud pops that sounded like gunshots. Shortly afterwards, she went into that area and saw the man in the orange shirt lying in the corridor with blood around his head.

Ms Richards said jurors would hear of the efforts made to render assistance to Mr. Watler.

She said they would also hear from another police officer outside the hospital who saw the defendant run out and tried to stop him, along with officers who did stop him and retrieve a firearm.

Subsequently, a bullet was recovered from inside the Accident and Emergency department. A bullet tip was recovered from the orange shirt and a fragment was retrieved from the deceased.

The Crown’s case is that the bullets retrieved were found to come from the gun recovered from the defendant.

The Crown’s first witness was a Public Works Department draughtsman, who submitted floor plans of the hospital.

Russell is represented by Howard Hamilton QC, instructed by Attorney Anthony Akiwumi.

Mr. Justice Alex Henderson is presiding.

Jurors chosen

Approximately 40 people attended Grand Court on Tuesday morning as potential jurors after the selection process ran short on Monday (Caymanian Compass, 14 February).

Mr. Justice Alex Henderson thanked them for attending on short notice. He explained that four jurors had been selected on Monday and eight more were needed for the trial of Carlos Russell on a charge of murder.

The judge granted both the Crown and Defence six additional challenges because the make-up of the jury pool was different from the previous day.

Some 38 names were called before the selection process was completed. As on the previous day, some persons were excused because of their association with or relationship to someone connected with the matter. Several people were allowed to stand down because they had made travel plans and their tickets were already paid for.

The jury was comprised of seven women and five men.

Mr. Justice Henderson told them it was important that the defendant be judged solely on the evidence they hear in court and not anything they might have heard or read outside the courtroom.