A man threatened to bomb my office

A WITNESS for the defence created quite a stir yesterday in court when she revealed that a man threatened to “bomb up” her office because she was going to testify for Jamaat Al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr in his conspiracy to murder trial. Coleen Marchand, the executive secretary at Johnson-Simon General Contrac-tors, told the court that the incident occurred on Thursday while she was at the Hall of Justice awaiting her turn to testify. But the matter was not raised by Marchand. It came from lead defence attorney Pamela Elder SC when Bakr had completed his testimony. In the presence of the jury, Elder said she wanted to raise a matter, that a defence witness was threatened. She said because of the sensitive nature of the matter, she asked that the media be careful in its reporting.

Elder told Justice Mark Mohammed in the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court that Marchand was in the witness room. She said her witness was “shaken” by the threats. The jury was then put out as the judge held an inquiry into the matter. When the jury was recalled one hour later, Justice Mohammed asked the jurors to ignore what was said by Elder. He asked them to put it out of their mind. The judge told the jurors that they must be concerned with only what they hear in the witness box. Marchand was then called to the witness box. The “shaken” witness was calm as she took the oath and took her seat in the box. In a bubbly fashion, Marchand then related the facts of the threats. During her testimony, she laughed and was quick in her responses.

She said on Thursday, while at the Hall of Justice, she received a telephone call from her secretary, saying she was leaving her resignation letter on her (Marchand’s) desk. Marchand said she eventually returned to her office around 3.15 pm and met her secretary. “The secretary informed Mr Simon and I that there was a visitor to the compound during the day. That person asked for Mr Simon and myself, and expressed to her that he was looking for us because he knew I was testifying for Bakr and he would come back and bomb up the building. “He said if I am not there, who ever is there will get it. His words were; ‘you don’t know who you are playing with, you feel you have protection, when this is finished, you don’t know who you playing with, it is Bakr boys self will come and shoot you up.”

Marchand said she spoke to a policeman friend who advised her to report the matter. She spoke to no one else until she informed the defence attorneys yesterday. Questioned by lead prosecutor Sir Timothy Cassel QC, Marchand said no threat was made to her personally. Marchand was Bakr’s alibi witness to the events of June 4, 2003, when it was alleged that he was in Diamond Vale, Diego Martin, plotting to kill two former Jamaat members with Brent Miller, Brent Danglade, and David “Buffy” Millard. As the executive secretary of Johnson-Simon General Contractors, Marchand said she was responsible for penning letters to get passes for the employees at the company.

She went through company records and revealed that Bakr was present at the West Area Salvage site at Petrotrin for certain periods between April 1 and September 8, 2003. Marchand was adamant that Bakr was at Petrotrin on June 4, even saying that he made two visits to the compound that morning. She clearly remembered the visit because the day before, Bakr had promised her medicine for her sickness. Marchand completed her testimony yesterday. When hearing re-sumes on Monday, another witness will be called by the defence. Bakr, 64, is charged with conspiring with others to murder former Jamaat members Salim Rasheed and Zaki Aubaidah at Citrine Drive, Diamond Vale in Diego Martin, June 4, 2003.