By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN who told police in 2022 that the defendant in a Soldier Road murder trial was the gunman who shot him testified yesterday that he could not remember that night, blaming his memory loss on smoking marijuana.
Craig Deveaux gave evidence in the murder and attempted murder trial of Clifford “CJ” Almonor before Justice Roberto Reckley.
Deveaux is himself awaiting trial on separate murder charges.
Almonor is accused of shooting and killing Herick Charles and shooting Deveaux in the leg outside a store on Soldier Road around 8pm on August 22, 2022.
Asked by prosecutor Kara Butler White whether he remembered that night, Deveaux said he did not. He accepted that he had been shot in the leg but said he could not recall when, and said he had not gone to a doctor for the injury.
He also said he did not remember giving and signing a statement to police shortly after the shooting, going to the Central Detective Unit to identify someone in a photo line-up, or telling police who shot him.
After a brief recess, Ms White read him his signed statement, dated August 25, 2022.
In it, Deveaux told police that he had crossed the street to buy cigarettes at the store. While outside, he saw a relative of the shop owner. As he approached the door, he saw two men dressed in black coming towards him.
He said he did not know one of the men but identified the other as the defendant, whom he called “CJ”. He told police he saw CJ clearly because the porch light was on and the accused was wearing only a blue hoodie, with no mask.
According to the statement, Deveaux saw the accused fighting with a Haitian man, who was killed, before the shooting. He said a man named Elkin took him to the hospital after he was shot.
The statement also said Deveaux and the accused were friends who had known each other for 10 years, and that while they were at R M Bailey they had spent time with the Pinewood Boys.
After hearing the statement, Deveaux maintained that he could not remember what happened that night or when he spoke to police, saying only that it had been a while. He agreed that the signatures on the statement and the photo line-up were his.
Ms White put it to him that he had signed the photo line-up because he had identified the defendant as the shooter, and that he had given the statement and made the identification of his own free will.
Asked whether the statement was untrue, Deveaux said he could not say because he could not recall that night. He apologised for not remembering but said he was telling the truth.
Asked whether he could not remember or did not want to say, he said he remembered only being shot in the leg. When Ms White put it to him that he was lying, he said smoking marijuana had made him forget.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Joel Seymour, Deveaux said he did not see CJ shoot him or anyone else. He said he did not know Almonor and the two had never interacted.
He also said his own nickname was CJ, and that plenty of people in the Pinewood area went by that name.
Earlier, a doctor testified that, according to the examining doctor, Deveaux’s injury was not serious and was not life-threatening.
Jacklyn Conyers also prosecuted.
The trial continues.
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