He killed my children’s dad

THE STATE’s main witness in the murder trial of the man charged with killing the father of her two children yesterday said that fear had prevented her from revealing the name of the “alleged shooter” in her initial statement to the police. She had subsequently revealed the name in a statutory declaration more than a month later. Under cross-examination by defence attorney Ian Brooks, Anastasia Gilford told the court that although she had known the identity of the “alleged shooter” immediately after the fatal shooting of her 33-year-old boyfriend, Mario Cobus, she had only given a description of the man, Wendell “Bullen” Dubarry, in her statement to the police. That statement was given the day after the murder. 

Dubarry is before Madame Justice Alice Yorke-Soo Hon at the Port-of-Spain Third Criminal Court charged with the July 27, 2001 murder of Cobus at Laventille Road, East Dry River, Port-of-Spain. Cobus was shot in the neck and was pronounced dead later that night. Dubarry is being represented by Brooks and State attorneys Jennifer Martin and Nalini Singh are prosecuting. Gilford accepted that she had signed two statutory declarations on September 7, 2001 in the presence of Justice of the Peace Motley Depaza relative to the statement. This, she said, she had done to be truthful “regarding the accused” and about what had transpired on the night in question.

She refuted claims by Brooks that she was telling a “horrible lie” when she said she had not lied on oath at the Magistrates’ Court during the inquiry of the murder. According to excerpts of Gilford’s deposition, the events of the fateful night had unfolded in ten seconds. Five of those, she had said, were taken up with gunshots and some with observations of the time on her watch.  Gilford, however, yesterday said that was not what she had meant to say. She said the entire incident occurred in about 15 seconds, ten of which were spent in a face to face encounter with the accused. She accused the defence attorney of confusing her and “putting words” in her mouth when she had given evidence at the Magistrates’ Court.

Gilford, in her evidence-in-chief earlier yesterday, told the court that she and Cobus were “liming” outside the entrance to her then Laventille Road, East Dry River home at around 9 pm on the fateful evening. She said she was facing the road and Cobus was sitting on a rail facing her. Their son was standing between them. The area was well lit, she said, with lights from her house, a nearby streetlight and from the neighbour’s house. The witness said she bent to pick up the child and she heard about four shots. When she looked up, she saw Cobus “come forward off the rail” and run.

At that time, she said, she came face to face with Dubarry for ten seconds.  She said she had known the accused, whom she said she saw nearly every other day, for the past 14 years. Gilford said she then turned and ran to the downstairs part of her home with her son in her arms. She went looking for Cobus and found him at the bottom of her back steps, lying in a pool of blood. She checked to see if he was alive and then went to get help. Gilford will be further cross-examined by Brooks today. Another witness, police draughtsman PC Gregory Hood of the Port-of-Spain Criminal Records Office, also gave evidence.