Former Deputy Premier Kenneth Bryan on Friday appeared in court as a character witness for a prison officer accused of trying to smuggle drugs into Northward prison.
Bryan, the People’s Progressive Movement MP for George Town Central and a top figure in the last government, told the Grand Court that defendant Derron Watson was a “bigger brother” figure to him when he was teenager.
The MP told a jury, “We have similar backgrounds. … Our parents are from the Sister Islands, Cayman Brac.
“As a younger man growing up, he was someone I looked up to.”
Bryan was speaking at the trial of Watson, who was charged with misconduct in a public office for an alleged attempt to take almost 55 grams of ganja into Northward Prison on 28 Feb. last year.
He said, “I know he is a man of faith, so I am honoured to be here today to give a character reference for him.”
Bryan said he did not know the details of the alleged offence, but was aware it involved a small amount of drugs.
He told the court, “I will be honest with you. When I heard the news I was in Cabinet. … I was quite shocked, surprised and in disbelief, if I’m honest.”
Bryan said, “I feel sorry for the jury to have to give judgment on a person I know to be a great human being and not subject to the things he has been accused of.”
He added he had watched Watson’s rise through the ranks over the years to a senior prison service position and that he had been “proud of him”.
Andre Wedderburn, who appeared for the prosecution, asked Bryan if he believed that “good people, people with good character” could do bad things.
Bryan replied, “I am not going to say what you want me to say. I apologise.”
But he said, “Anyone who commits a crime should be punished by law.”
Bryan was one of a string of character witnesses called by defence lawyer Amelia Fosuhene, which included figures from the defendant’s church, the Ebenezer Seventh-day Adventist Church in George Town, and prison chaplaincy clerics.
Josannah Watson, the defendant’s daughter, sobbed as she told the court that her father had appeared worried the night before he was arrested.
She said her father was “an amazing person, just all round. He is an excellent father and exceptional grandfather. He would do anything for us.”
Fosuhene asked Josannah Watson what her father’s attitude to drug abuse was.
She replied that he had “no tolerance” for illegal drugs.
Marty Whittaker, another character witness for Derron Watson, told the court that he had a string of convictions and done jail time for theft and drug offences and that he had been a crack-cocaine addict.
He said he and Watson had been friends “from the time they were kids” and also through the prison when he was behind bars.
Whittaker added that Watson had encouraged him to go to detox and recovery centre the Caribbean Haven “more than once. More than I would like to remember — a lot”.
He said, “His attitude towards drugs was definitely a no-no. When I was clean and sober, he would hang with me, we were the best of friends. But he said, ‘When you’re back on that stuff, we can’t hang’.”
Whittaker said, “He’s a real straightforward person who would go to the ends to help anyone.”
The trial continues.
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