Sea Lots man to hang for murder

Boxie was gunned down during a robbery in 2002 at the popular Starlight Recreation Club on the Tarouba Link Road. The club is located on the junction which leads to the Sir Solomon Hochoy Highway from the Naparima Mayaro Road.

John, aka "Dollars," was found guilty by a 12-member mixed jury which heard the case at the San Fernando Second Assizes. The jury deliberated for two hours after trial judge Justice Mark Mohammed summed up the case. The State relied on evidence of an accomplice witness, who was granted immunity from prosecution for Boxie’s murder.

The witness, Jeffrey Lewis, was a PH driver whom accused John and two other men paid $140 to transport them to and from Starlight Recreation Club on November 27, 2002.

Lewis, of Laventille, testified that he picked up John and the men in his black Hyundai Accent car on Queen Street, Port-of-Spain. They requested to go to San Fernando to "mark a scene," Lewis testified.

Lewis told Mohammed and the jury that he had asked accused John and the other men if they intended to do anything illegal. Lewis testified that on directions from John, he drove to the club. Lewis testified that he saw John pulled out a firearm. Lewis told the court that when he asked John about the gun, John threatened him. The State witness told the court that John told him that he (John) knew where he (Lewis) lived and the taxi route which he plied.

Lewis testified that after waiting ten minutes outside Starlight, John and the other men jumped back in the car and ordered him to drive back to Port-of-Spain.

The State led evidence that John and the men shot Boxie, a father of four daughters, in the back inside the club. The bullet exited the chest. This occurred after Boxie was robbed of $5,000 cash and $10,000 worth of jewelry in the businessplace. He died as he attempted to escape through a staircase leading upstairs.

The firearm used in the killing was never recovered.

Lewis testified that along the drive back to Port-of-Spain, John and the other men threatened to shoot him and his family if he told anyone what had happened.

On December 3, 2002, police arrested Lewis. Three days later, John was arrested and charged with Boxie’s murder. The other two persons involved in the killing were never found by police. Lewis was granted immunity by Director of Public Prosecutions Geoffrey Henderson, on February 18, 2004.

John, in his defence, claimed that Lewis had fabricated evidence against him. John did not take the witness stand. Attorneys Roger Ramgoolam and Kevin Ratiram defended him.

Justice Mohammed passed the death sentence on John after the guilty verdict.