Defence accuses witness of fabricating evidence

DEFENCE attorney Ian Stuart Brook yesterday accused State witness Erwin Deyal of making up evidence against one of  three men on trial for murder. Brook, representing murder accused Bryan “Soldier Barry” Barrington, put to Deyal that he was mistaken when he identified Barrington as one of the men who shot him on the night of November 12, 2001.  Deyal, Brook alleged, was “fabricating” evidence against his client. Deyal and his friend Junior “Ombie” Frederick were shot at the corner of Fatima Trace and Mentor Alley on the night in question. Deyal was critically wounded, while Frederick died at the scene. A post-mortem report revealed he had died of injuries consistent with multiple gunshot wounds.

Now, more than three years later, Deyal is the State’s main witness and is giving evidence against Barrington, Sebastian “Bassie” Joseph and Andy “Sudan” Brown, the men whom he identified as the assailants. The three are before Madame Justice Alice Yorke Soo Hon in the Port-of-Spain Second Criminal Court charged with Frederick’s murder. Under cross-examination by Brook, Deyal denied the attorney’s allegations and maintained that even while under attack, he had given priority to looking at his assailants over trying to escape. He said he was able to easily “make the recognition” because he knew the men prior to the shooting. When hearing resumes today, Deyal will be cross-examined by attorney Wayne Sturge.