Murder case witness: ‘Should I keep my mouth shut like everyone else?’

A key witness under cross-examination at the trial over the shooting of East End resident Sven Connor in December 2023 asked a court Friday if they should have given evidence or remained silent over what they had witnessed on the night of the murder.

The witness, whose identity, including name, address and gender, is being kept secret and who is called ‘Witness A’ in court, had earlier testified that they had heard “six or seven shots or more” on the night of 7 Dec., making a “pop pop pop” sound.

Anstascio Rankine, 30, and Rolan Welcome Jr., 34, have both pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to murder, and possession of an unlicensed firearm, in relation to the killing of Connor in his home on Fiddlers Way. Two other suspects in the case have never been identified.

Witness A testified on Thursday afternoon and Friday morning at the Grand Court. Jurors and Grand Court Justice Cheryll Richards were able to see the witness via a video screen and hear their voice, while the two defendants, lawyers, media and members of the public heard the testimony through a voice modulator, which disguised the witness’ voice.

Rankine’s defence lawyer, Liam Walker, KC, in his cross-examination of the witness on Friday morning, noted that they had told police during an earlier interview, “I want East End clean up with this s**t here. I don’t want this s**t repeat itself.” He asked if the witness had been angry about what had happened on 7 Dec. 2023.

The witness, who had responded with frustration to some of the other cross-examination questions casting doubt on what they had seen at the scene that night, responded, “Yes. Anyone would be angry and upset … Mr. Connor winds up dead” after being shot. “That was a shock for East End, on John McLean Drive…”

“I am still upset,” the witness said, adding, “Am I wrong to give my statement to you guys, or should I just keep my mouth shut like everyone else?”

Argument heard on the night

Under questioning from Crown counsel Barnaby Jameson, KC, Witness A on Thursday had told how they heard arguing between a group of men outside a residence, near the intersection of Broadleaf Close and John McLean Drive, at around 9:30pm on the night of the shooting – which occurred at 9:52pm.

The witness, who said they had known both Rankine and Welcome – who both lived in the neighbourhood – since birth, had drawn a map for the court showing the two men on one side of the road and Connor on the other, and said they heard an argument, with cursing.

The witness testified that Rankine called for Connor to “come out, come out”, but Connor replied “you come to me”. Rankine, according to the witness, then picked up a rock and threw it at Connor, which missed him and went over a wall. Welcome then took Rankine by the arm and said, “Let’s go”, and they walked away.

“I was shook up,” said the witness. “There were children in the neighbourhood.”

Shots fired

Not long afterwards, according to the witness, they were sitting on the back porch at home having a cigarette when they heard shots being fired, which, they said, sounded like “pop pop pop pop pop”. They went inside to lock the front door and, shortly afterwards, a friend came to the door and told them that Connor had been shot.

“I was shocked,” said the witness, adding that earlier, “I thought to myself, these boys are going to kill this boy tonight.”

The witness said, shortly after the argument, they had seen Rankine, who lived in the neighbourhood, walking along the street, “taking his time going home. He didn’t look suspicious but, you know…”

Walker, cross-examining the witness, questioned the accuracy of their account, stating that they had told police in an interview of a man they had seen near the scene of the argument. That man, Walker said, had been recorded on CCTV in George Town just minutes later. The witness insisted that they had seen this person, whom they named, at the scene.

Walker also questioned the witness’ description to police of what Welcome had been wearing on the night of the murder. Quoting from a transcript of the police interview, Walker noted that the witness had said Welcome was carrying a black backpack, and was wearing a white T-shirt, blue jeans and a black shirt over his head.

However, Walker said, CCTV showed Welcome wearing a camouflage-style T-shirt, and added that he had not been carrying a backpack.

The witness responded that if everything had been captured on CCTV, “why do you all need me here?” After the judge advised the witness to either agree or disagree with counsel’s questions, the witness replied that they disagreed.

The lawyer also noted that trees and a trellis wall at the neighbour’s yard where the argument occurred would have obscured a person’s view into the yard, but the witness again insisted that they could see into the yard as the patio light was on, as well as street lights.

Conspiracy to commit murder

Earlier in his opening remarks for the prosecution, Jameson had told the jury that, for the charge of conspiracy to murder, “the agreement between conspirators is the criminal act itself”, adding that, in this case of “cold-blooded murder, the conspirators did put their criminal scheme into effect”.

He told the jurors, “The murder of Sven Connor proves, we say, that there was a conspiracy.”

“Conspiracies are rarely seen in real time,” he said, adding, “This case is different. You, the jurors, have a front row seat watching the planning of the murder of Sven Connor.”

“This was not a plan to read Sven Connor a bedtime story,” said Jameson.

CCTV footage, said Jameson, showed an intense discussion outside the premises next door to Connor’s home in Fiddlers Way about 20 minutes after the argument occurred. A weapon was believed to have been exchanged between two of the four suspects at that time, and seconds later, Connor was shot dead inside his home in a “hail of gunfire” through his bedroom window.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by Sarah Bridge.