I did not kill him, I loved him

Leslie Huggins, accused of murdering his cousin Clint Huggins for a $3M contract said yesterday that he loved Clint as a brother and denied killing him.

Leslie said: “Clint was my cousin. I was very close to him. We were like brothers... Clint is meh brother.  I was always protecting Clint. I did not kill Clint.” Leslie, a mechanic, denied all allegations linking him to the murder of Clint which the State lead through his once common-law wife Swarsattie Maharaj. Leslie told the court how Clint used to leave his Teteron Barracks safehouse and visit him in Sangre Grande. On one occasion, in spite of Clint’s reluctance,  Leslie said he took Clint back to Teteron and on other occasions to  police stations. He said he did this because he wanted to protect Clint.

Another cousin, Arnold Huggins, who is jointly charged with Leslie with Junior “Heads” Phillip, for the murder,  also testified yesterday that his main reason for having a relationship with Swarsattie Maharaj was for her inheritance money, and when  that started to run out, he decided to end the relationship.  Arnold  made clear his intention about Maharaj while testifying in the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court,  where the trio is on trial for the murder of Clint. Defending Arnold is Ian Stuart Brooks; Leslie by Keith Scotland and Dawn Mohan; and Phillip, by Osbourne Charles SC. Prosecutors are Wayne Rajbansie and Natasha George.

Arnold told the 12-member jury that Maharaj had  live with him as man and wife at his mother’s Matura home for about two to three months in 1996, after breaking up with her common-law husband Leslie. Maharaj has denied this, though she has admitted spending a week there but not sleeping with Arnold. Arnold said that although Maharaj  had maintained herself financially, “she could not cook or clean and she did not like children.” Even Arnold’s mother Merle Huggins, testified yesterday that she did not like Maharaj. She described Maharaj  as a “party girl” who spent her nights out and slept all day.

Merle  told the jury  that she did not want her son associating  with a girl like Maharaj. Instead, she would have preferred that Arnold had remained with his wife Ann Marie Maharaj, who had a son for him. It was suggested that because of Swarsattie, Arnold’s marriage with Ann Marie broke up.  Merle also testified that she and  Swarsattie had a “cussout” and sometime later Swarsattie left the house and  went back to  Mulchan Street, Guaico. Arnold went after her but he met stiff resistance from Richard Huggins when he tried to talk to Swarsattie.

This led to Swarsattie having to take out a restraining order against Arnold, which he testified she recalled sometime later, after they spent an evening at Salybia Beach and the night at his home. The trio are before Justice Alice Yorke Soo-Hon, charged with the Carnival Tuesday — February 20, 1996, murder of Clint, a key state witness in the then murder trial of Dole Chadee and his gang. The State is alleging that the men had accepted a $3M contract from Chadee’s top lieutenant Joey Ramiah,  to kill Clint. When hearing resumes today, Rajbansie will continue with his cross-examination of Leslie.