Justice Charles Quin, attorneys, court staff and defendant Leonard Antonio Ebanks visited an area of Birch Tree Hill Road in West Bay on Wednesday to see for themselves buildings, trees and surroundings referred to by witnesses giving evidence in Ebanks’ trial for the murder of Tyrone Burrell.
The group first walked through the yard where Mr. Burrell was killed on the evening of 8 September, 2010. The group then passed through a grass piece and a band of trees to reach another yard. A subsequent walk through the trees was via another path. The walk continued on Swallow Road and further up Birch Tree Hill Road to the defendant’s residence.
Ebanks, 40, is charged with the murder of Mr. Burrell, who was 20 at the time. He elected to be tried by judge alone.
The site visit was on the seventh day of the trial, when the Crown’s third witness had not yet completed his evidence. The first two witnesses told the court where and when they saw Ebanks, whom they knew and referred to as Tonio, the night of the shooting.
Arlene Marjorie White said she was in the kitchen of the house where she worked as a domestic worker when she saw Ebanks walk past dressed in black; seconds later she heard a gunshot (Caymanian Compass, 8 September).
Nora Ebanks was in the yard behind with her brother when she heard a noise, but she didn’t know if it was fireworks or a gunshot. About 10 seconds later she saw Tonio. She said she was frightened and he looked frightened too. He had come from the path between the two yards. The only thing she noticed about his clothing was a red cap. She said she left Tonio there with her brother. She did not see a gun.
The next day, around noon, Ms Ebanks saw Tonio again and he said thanks for what she had done for him – good and bad. She said he told her, “You lucky you didn’t get you brains blowed out too.” She said she took that as a threat.
Later, defence attorney Charles Heslop suggested that what Tonio was telling was, the shooting was just around the corner and she was lucky she didn’t get shot as well, or something like that.
“I think so too,” Ms Ebanks said.
She told the court that later the same day, after dark, Tonio told her she shouldn’t have got into it because it didn’t concern her children. He also told her she was trying very hard to sink him.
Mr. Heslop suggested several times that she heard the bang after she saw Tonio. She did not agree. The defence attorney said Ebanks looked startled, not frightened, when she saw him and she agreed. She also agreed he was not running and did not seem out of breath. Questioned further, she said when she saw Tonio the next day, he told her he had two alibis – one, because he was taking a shower with his wife and two, because Ms Ebanks saw him.
Mr. Heslop suggested later that she saw Tonio “before anything happened.”
She replied, “I saw him after I heard the shot.”
She denied having bad feelings toward Ebanks. She agreed there had been an incident between him and her brother, between him and her nephew, and between him and her boyfriend. She agreed she told police she would like to see him go to jail because of those incidents. She said she had no problem with him; he was family to her and she loved him.
Both Ms White and Ms Ebanks said they thought drugs were sold in the yard where Mr. Burrell was killed. Ms White noted that another man, Damion Ming, had also been killed in that yard (Compass, 26 March 2010).
When court adjourned on Wednesday, Ebanks’ interview with police had not yet been read into the record. However, when Senior Crown Counsel Trevor Ward opened the case last week, he said Ebanks admitted being at the scene of the shooting before it happened. Ebanks told police he left the yard and it was about 15 minutes later he heard a gunshot.
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