Murder accused says he’s innocent

A LAVENTILLE man, on trial for murder, yesterday claimed he was innocent because he was filing a report at a police station at the time of the murder. Andy “Sudan” Brown, also called “Sultan Bilaal,” said he arrived at the St James police Station at around 8.55 pm on November 12, 2001, to report that his car had been broken into and his CD deck had been stolen. He left the station at 9.45 pm, he said. Brown, of Blondell Alley, Laventille, and two other men,  Brian “Soldier Barry” Barrington and Sebastian “Bassie” Joseph, are before Madame Justice Alice Yorke Soo Hon in the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court charged with the murder of Junior “Ombie” Frederick.

Frederick was gunned down at the corner of Fatima Trace and Mentor Alley, Laventille, at around 9.30 pm on November 12, 2001. Prior to his arrival at the police station, Brown said, he had been at Dibe Road, Long Circular, where he had gone to visit a female friend, Simone Morgan. Although his visit had only lasted about five to six minutes, it was during this period his car had been broken into. The 33-year-old accused said he had parked the car some distance away from Morgan’s house, and it was only when he got close to the vehicle that he heard the alarm. At the station, he said, an officer, whose name he could not recall, wrote the report in the station diary. Brown recalled he returned to the station a few days later and was given a copy of the report by WPC Ellen Morrison. He has since “misplaced” the document, he said, and during the preliminary inquiry into the murder at the Magistrates’ Court, Morrison was summoned to attest to the existence of the document.

Brown, a former URP foreman, was arrested at his home on December 8, 2001, and he said Sgt Wayne Dick was one of the party of officers at his home on that day. He told the court he knew Dick prior to his arrest because the officer had asked him for a recommendation of employment for someone he (Dick) knew. Brown said he obliged, but he felt that Dick “had something personal” against him because the officer used to send police to his house, harass his wife and threaten to charge him. He did not, however, report his allegations about Dick to the Police Complaints Authority or any senior officer. In response to suggestions by State attorney Alexander Prince that Brown was “lying on Dick,” the accused maintained he had told the court the truth. The accused are being represented by attorneys Sophia Chote, Michelle Solomon, Wayne Sturge and Ian Stuart Brook.
Hearing resumes today.