The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON


Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A JURY saw a near-reenactment of what man did to a woman after he broke down her front door and attacked her after she tried to get away from him.

Kimberly Morgan of Gregory Town, Eleuthera, told the court that the assailant she identified as her ex-boyfriend, overpowered and pushed the bathroom door open and immediately started to strangle her.

Holding her neck to demonstrate what the man did the night of November 19, 2009, she told the court that the man whispered in her ear, “Did you really think I was gonna let you live? I’m going to kill you!”

The shivering long-haired caucasian blonde pointed to Kevin Dawkins, seated in the prisoner’s dock, as the man she revealed to be who said those words to her before he got into a struggle with her fianc� and eventually stabbed him.

Dawkins, 28, faces a murder charge where he is accused of killing 39-year-old Fitzroy McDonald on November 19, 2009 in Gregory Town, Eleuthera.

McDonald, a Jamaican, was stabbed by a man whom he had an altercation with concerning a woman around 11am on the day in question.

Dawkins denies the charge.
Yesterday, lead prosecutor Jillian Williams, asked Ms Morgan to recall how her previous relationship with the defendant began.

“We saw each other for a short time. We dated. Prior to that he worked for me” Morgan said.

“What type of work did he do?” prosecutor Williams asked.

“He provided some work around my property,” the witness answered.

She could not say exactly when the relationship because but said it did not last long.

She said during their ‘short period’ together, she saw him “maybe once a week, maybe twice, he would come and go.”

“After the relationship ended, did he make any contact with you,” the prosecutor asked.

“He would call my home. He would call for no reason at all, just to call until I stopped answering the phone,” she answered.

The prosecutor asked Ms Morgan if she knew the deceased.

“Yes, he was my fianc�” Morgan answered, adding that their relationship began in August 2009 and that he had lived with her when he came to Eleuthera.

Fast-tracking to the day in question, prosecutor Williams Ms Morgan what, “if anything” happened around four that afternoon.

Morgan said there was a knock at the door and her fianc� went to answer.
“I went to the front door, I looked through the door and saw him,” she said, while pointing at the accused, “leaving my front door”.

She said he was some “15 feet” from her and she was able to see his entire body.

She said she called the police, told her fianc� to stay inside and then left to go Downtown to speak with Evan Morgan who returned with her to her residence “where we saw Kevin Dawkins on my property”.

“He [Evan] told him to get out of here! Leave now!” the court heard.

She said later that evening, around 10.30-11, she was at home with her fianc� when she heard a “loud bang” from the kitchen. The door banged open and looking up, she saw “him” in her house.

She looked for somewhere safe to hide and took refuge in the restroom. She said he overpowered her and pushed the bathroom door open and started to strangle her.

Holding her neck to demonstrate what she claimed the accused did, she told the court that he whispered in her ear, “Did you really think I was gonna let you live? I’m going to kill you!”

“I was kicking and screaming for help. He was on top of me then. I was trying to push him off,” she said.

It was then that her fianc� pushed Kevin off her where a struggle ensued between the two men. She tried to get away through a window.

“I got out of the window and I ran to Mr Woods’ house,” she said, where the police were contacted.

Looking around on the floor, she said her dog, “Mr Shaggy” was lying there.

“Fritzy, he was lying there, not moving,” Ms Morgan said.

Ms Morgan was able to identify the knife used in the incident as the one she received from a friend as a gift.

Defending attorney Murrio Ducille cross-examined the woman, and suggested to the woman that she hired his client as a bodyguard because she felt threatened.

“It was mostly to protect my supplies and keep an eye on me,” she said.

“You hired Kevin to guard you because you had problems with your husband,” Mr Ducille suggested.

“Former” she answered.
“Former” Mr Ducille corrected himself before asking “was Kevin your lover?”

“For a short period of time” Morgan answered.

“I suggest to you that you propositioned him and he told you you were too old for him and asked you if you had a daughter” Mr Ducille said.

“No sir,” she answered.

“You traveled with him to Ft Lauderdale in August 2009?” Mr Ducille asked her. “He accompanied me to my cancer doctor,” she answered.

Mr Ducille then asked her if she knew a woman named “Pat” and she said she did.

“I’m suggesting you were practicing witchcraft with Pat in the presence of Kevin,” Mr Ducille said.

Senior Justice Jon Isaacs interrupted the trial at this point and told the witness she did not have to answer that.

After questioning her about her statement to the police and other issues surrounding the case, Mr Ducille suggested to her that “you have come to this court to deliberately tell lies on this young man”

“No,” Ms Morgan answered.

Mr Ducille suggested to her that Kevin was still her boyfriend up to November when she had gotten engaged to the Jamaican. She denied this.
Mr Ducille suggested to the witness she was not being truthful. The trial resumes today.