By Denise Maycock
A LEAD police investigator in a double murder case which occurred in Grand Bahama testified that one of the accused men, Kevin Dames, told him he drove four co-defendants in his car to Deadman’s Reef to get money on the night of September 12, 2015.
Detective Sgt 772 Lorenzo Johnson said Dames recounted three of his co-accused were armed with guns when he dropped them off through a dirt road.
The record of interview conducted by Sgt Johnson, and a signed police statement given by Dames on September 24, 2015 while in police custody, were entered as evidence in court by the prosecution.
Dames is one of the three men on trial in the Supreme Court in Grand Bahama for the murder and armed robbery of Barry and Sheena Johnson of Deadman’s Reef. The other two co-defendants are Paul Belizaire and Devaughn Hall.
Co-defendants Allan Alcime and Virgil Hall accepted a plea deal by the Office of the Attorney General and testified as witnesses for the Crown. They pleaded guilty to armed robbery and serving time in prison.
Sgt Johnson told the court that he cautioned Dames and told him he was a suspect in the murder and armed robbery investigation.
The detective read the record of interview and the police statement in the court. Carlson Shurland, counsel for Dames, objected to both being read in court claiming it would be prejudicial to the co-defendants, but Justice Estelle Gray-Evans allowed them to be entered and read.
Geoffrey Farquharson, counsel for Belizaire, was not present in court on Tuesday morning, leaving his client unrepresented. When Justice Evans asked Belizaire if he had any objections to the statement and record of the interview being entered as evidence, he stood and said, “No”.
During his interview, Sgt Johnson said Dames stated the four co-defendants had told him that they were going to get money.
According to testimony given by Alcime, the money in question was some $2 million that belonged to a “drug boy”.
According to police statement given by Dames, he received a call on Saturday from Alcime to pick him up and take him to Deadman’s Reef. The accused said he went in a grey Maxima to Devaughn Hall’s house in Pinedale, Eight Mile Rock, where he picked up Alcime, Virgil Hall, PJ, known as Paul Belizaire, and Devaughn Hall.
He dropped them off through a dirt road to a shortcut in Deadman’s Reef.
Dames told the detective there were guns. Devaughn had a .357 gun in a black shirt; PJ was sitting behind him and had a gun; Alcime had a shotgun and Virgil Hall was unarmed.
After he dropped them off, he went home. Dames told the detective he never heard from them again, but later learned that Alcime had been locked up.
Sgt 772 Johnson told the court that on September 24, he also took Dames to the rear parking lot of the police compound where Dames pointed out to him a 2002 grey Nissan Maxima licence number 47245, and said that was the vehicle he was driving.
The detective also said he conducted a record of interview with Belizaire, who also gave a police statement. A recording was made of both and were shown to the court.
The trial continues.
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