Murder victim stripped, thrown on ‘picker’ tree

THE STATE’S star witness in the trial of Glenroy London, who is charged with murdering Clifford Mark, testified yesterday that the victim was beaten mercilessly, urinated on, stripped naked and thrown onto a ‘picker’ tree.

Moments before star witness Bryon Vespry gave his testimony, relatives of the murdered man broke down in tears as they sat in the public gallery of the First Criminal Court and hurriedly left the courtroom. London, 43, a labourer of Point Ligoure, is before a 12-member jury charged with murdering Mark on November 12, 2000. State prosecutor Joan Honore-Paul is being assisted by Mauriceia Joseph, while attorney Ian Stuart Brooks is defending London. In his testimony yesterday, Vespry recalled Monday November 13, 2000, when his friend Raymond called out to him. The two went to a white B14 Sentra. Raymond sat in the front passenger seat, while Vespry sat in the back seat. The car was driven by a short man of African descent. Later that day, Vespry said, he met London who told him: “If Clifford Mark can’t give us cocaine we would have to kill him.”

Vespry said on the night of November 12, he, the accused and three other men went to Mark’s house at Bamboo Village, Cedros. He said the others got out of the car and went into Mark’s house. At the time the accused had what appeared to be a gun, while the other two men had cutlasses. He said they came out of the house two minutes later “toting” Mark, whose hands were tied behind his back with rope and his mouth gagged. Mark, who was dressed only in a jersey and jockey shorts, was placed in the trunk of the car. Vespry said they took Mark to a bushy area off Zabocara Road, where the accused asked Mark about the cocaine. Vespry said Mark was ‘planassed.’ At one stage, they dug a hole in the ground near the roots a fig tree, but only old bags were found.

He said Mark was dragged along the ground and beaten and stamped on and the accused urinated on his face. By this time the victim was naked having earlier been stripped of his clothing. He was taken to a nearby ‘picker’ tree where two of the men held him by his arms, while the accused kicked him in the back, causing Mark to be impaled on the spikes of the ‘picker’ tree. “Some of the pickers was about two inches long,” Vespry told the court. Afterwards, Mark was tied to another tree with rope. The rope was also tied around his neck. “One of the men asked the accused for a gun to shoot Mark, but the accused only said, ‘Leave him right there, he will die right there’,” Vespry said. They then left the area and Vespry was dropped off on a main road and walked home. He said on November 26, 2000 he accompanied police to the area where the victim had been left.The State is expected to call Dr Des Vignes and the police complainant when hearing resumes at 9 am on Monday.