Testimony continues in murder trial
One murder case, in which a suspect was charged long ago, is currently being heard in the Supreme Court. Ann-Marie has an update.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
The trial of Ornel Welcome continued today with prosecution witness Michelle Matthews being cross-examined by defence attorney Simeon Sampson. In his cross-examination, Sampson merely wanted her to reiterate to the court that the man she saw in the line-up resembled the person she saw on October twelfth near Therese Blake’s home on Newtown Barracks and was not necessarily the defendant.
Sampson also asked of the witness: “Do you know the make or year of the car that you identified at the police station?”
She said, “No.”
The third prosecution witness to testify was Sergeant Alden Dawson of the Crimes Investigation Branch, C.I.B. Dawson told the court that he was asked to conduct an ID parade on October thirty on Ornel Welcome Jr. in connection with the fatal shooting. He said he asked Welcome if he had any objections to the parade and he said no. He said he also asked Welcome if he wanted to have an attorney or a friend present. He said he would like to have his father and common-law wife.
Dawson told the court that Welcome took the eighth position in the line-up. Witness Michelle Matthews told Dawson that the man in eighth position resembled the person she saw on the day in question, except that his hair was removed.
The prosecution asked Sergeant Dawson if he could recall what he was doing on November sixteenth of 2000. He told the court “Yes, I was asked to conduct a photo ID parade because the suspect in question had shaved his head, his moustache and his eyebrows, which altered his features and the two witnesses were unable to identify him in the line-up.”
Sergeant Dawson told court that he mounted eleven photographs on a piece of bristol board, all young men with similar features to the suspect, along with the suspects, making it twelve. And, that he numbered them one to twelve and took that piece of bristol board to one Therese Olivera’s house and that he told her she may or may not find the picture of the suspect on the bristol board.
Sergeant Dawson told the court that Welcome’s picture was number one and that Olivera looked at the photo ID parade and identified photo number one as the person she saw on the day in question, which is October twelfth of 2000.
The murder trial in Supreme Court number three adjourned at midday to resume on Friday morning at 9:30. Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
