The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE widow of murdered businessman Leslie Maycock told the Supreme Court she will never forget the pain – which she described as a “death cry” – in her husband’s voice when he called to tell her he had just been shot outside the family business in Hawksbill, Grand Bahama, five years ago.

Beverly Maycock testified on the opening day of the murder trial of Dudley Seide Jr and Coderold Wallace, aka Coderold Miller, who are accused of robbing and shooting Mr Maycock, owner of the Hawksbill Mini Mart, on July 15, 2009.

Mrs Maycock told the court that her husband of 20 years had left home around 9pm to close the business and about an hour later, she received a frantic call from him. “I will always remember the sound of his voice in my mind, it was a desperate cry; I have never heard him sound that way. There was a pain in his voice – a death cry – and his last words were ‘they shot me, I am on my way to the hospital’,” she said.

Mr Maycock, a retired police officer, was shot in the parking lot after closing the business. He called police around 10:45pm and told them that he had been shot in the stomach by two men who took his money pouch and that he was on his way to the hospital. En route, the businessman lost control of his vehicle and crashed at the roundabout at Pioneers Way and West Atlantic Drive, near the Four Way Coop Plaza. He was taken by ambulance to the Rand Memorial Hospital, where he died eight days later in the Intensive Care Unit.

A jury of seven women and five men has been impanelled and Senior Justice Hartman Longley is presiding. Erica Kemp and Desiree Ferguson appear on behalf of the Crown. Simeon Brown represents Dudley Seide, while Osman Johnson represents Coderold Wallace.

Mrs Maycock told the court that after receiving the call from her husband she woke the children and told them that their father had just been shot. They headed to the hospital. On their way there, she saw a traffic accident and stopped. She recognised the overturned vehicle as that of her husband. She said the police would not allow her to see her husband, who was on the ground.

“They told me that an ambulance was on the way and to go to the hospital and register him,” she recalled. She said her husband underwent surgery and was admitted to ICU. She visited him in hospital up until his death on July 23, 2009.

When questioned by Mr Johnson about whether her husband had mentioned to her the names of the persons who robbed and shot him, Mrs Maycock said he did not.

Police Sergeant Wilbert Rodgers spoke with Mr Maycock at the hospital just before he went in for surgery. Mr Maycock, he said, told him that two black men approached him and took his black pouch containing $700-$900 and his gold chain.

The police officer said the deceased told him the culprits were wearing camouflage pants and blue bandanas covering their faces. He described the suspects as being about his height, about 5ft 9in.

During cross-examination, Officer Rodgers testified that Mr Maycock had also mentioned that he believed one of the men who robbed him was Shorty Smith.

Officer Darren Pierre, of the Criminal Records Office, took photographs at the accident scene and the actual crime scene at the Hawksbill Mini Mart on July 15. He photographed a silver-coloured vehicle, registered to Leslie Maycock, on its right side with damages to the windshield. Afterwards, he went to the mini mart in Hawksbill where he photographed the scene and collected items, including one .380 spent casing, an eyeglass, an ice-cream carton and a plastic spoon.

Officer Pierre told the court that he filled out a request analysis form for transfer to the Police Forensic Lab the spent casing found at the scene for ballistic testing.

On July 24, he also attended the autopsy of Mr Maycock at Rand Memorial Hospital. He took photographs of the deceased and the stomach wound. He also photographed and collected a lead projectile that was removed by the pathologist from the lower back of the deceased. Blood samples were also collected, he said.

Officer Pierre compiled a photo album, which was exhibited in court.

Both defence attorneys claimed that the police had failed to properly secure both the accident and crime scenes with tape, but Mr Pierre insisted that two traffic police had secured the area blocking access to the accident scene with their motorcycles. However, he said when he arrived at the mini mart he could not recall whether officers were there.

“Did you examine the glass and doors for fingerprints?” Mr Brown asked. “No,” officer Pierre replied.

Mr Johnson questioned Officer Pierre as to why he did not collect any forensic evidence at the crime scene. Did you swab the door for blood, fingerprints? asked Mr Johnson. Pierre replied, “No, sir.”

When Mr Johnson asked officer Pierre whether they were able to find a firearm, he said no. “You have no forensic evidence linking the defendants to the murder?” Again, Pierre responded in the negative.

Mrs Maycock and her son, DeAngelo Carey, told the court that the last they saw Mr Maycock on the day in question he was in good health.

Police Sergeant Charles Charlton arrested Coderold Wallace on August 19, 2009. He said police received information concerning the whereabouts of a suspect who was wanted. He went to the National Insurance Building around 9:35am, identified himself to Wallace, arrested him for murder, and cautioned him.

Police officer Andrew Clarke arrested the second suspect, Dudley Seide, around 6:10pm on August 28, 2009, at LMR Drugs after police had received a tip on his whereabouts. He said Seide was cautioned and taken into custody at Central Police Station.

The trial resumes today.