DR. KADIYIADI PRASAD testified yesterday that the body of attorney-at-law Shirley Playfair had nine incised wounds, one of which severed the larynx.
The doctor said the wounds could have been inflicted by a sharp instrument such as a knife.
Kathy Pyke, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, and Gail Walters, Crown Counsel, are leading evidence that Mrs. Playfair was in her office at Seymour Avenue, Kingston 6 on April 13, 2000 when men went there and slashed her throat.
Ramone Drysdale, 26, otherwise called Fudgie, of Metcalf Road, Kingston 13, Ashley Ricketts, 48, taxi-driver of Maxfield Avenue, Kingston 13 and Annette Livingston, 40, who was Mrs. Playfair's secretary, are on trial for the murder.
Dwayne 'Amin' Williams, 26, labourer, of Bentley Lane, Kingston 13 was also charged in connection with the murder, but he escaped from police custody on April 22 last year and is still at large.
Dr. Prasad, who performed the post-mortem examination on April 14, 2000, said that two of the wounds were on the index finger and knuckle, two were on the cheek and five were on the neck.
Corporal Ricardo Hepburn of the Jamaica Defence Force testified that he, along with two other soldiers and a policeman, were on foot patrol in the Whitfield Town area, Kingston 13, about 11.45 a.m. on April 13, 2000. He said they received a police radio transmission while on patrol. While they were on Metcalf Road, Kingston 11, police Constable Lindsay went into a yard and Corporal Hepburn accompanied him.
He said he heard a car engine being switched off outside the gate and Private McLean saying "put up oono hand."
He went outside and saw a blue Datsun 120Y at the gate and two men coming out of the rear seat of the car. The driver, the accused Ricketts, was seated in the car and all of the windows were wound up.
He said Drysdale was one of the two men who came out of the car. Drysale put a ratchet knife on the wall and told them that he was coming from Maxfield Avenue where some men tried to rob them. The knife had blood stains on it. Cpl. Hepburn said he asked Ricketts to come out of the car and Ricketts said the men had chartered him up Maxfield Avenue. He said he noticed what appeared to be bloodstains on Drysdale's shirt in the region of the shoulder. The other man, who was not before the court, had fresh scratches on both hands and a plaster about five to six inches long in the mid section of his body.
Drysdale ran away and Cpl. Hepburn said Constable Lindsay and Private Hibbert chased him and caught him. He said Drysdale appeared very uneasy and was making small paces. He said Drysdale was sweating very heavily and was looking all over the place as if he were looking for someone.
Cpl. Hepburn will be cross-examined today when the trial resumes before Miss Justice Kay Beckford and the jury in the Home Circuit Court.
Attorney-at-law Sylvester Morris is representing Drysdale. Frank Phipps, Q.C. and attorney-at-law Kathryn Philps are representing Livingston.
