By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterA BUILDING contractor who was shot in the neck by a gunman while erecting a laboratory on the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in St. Andrew, has testified in the Supreme Court that the University's Project Committee was aware that he had to pay $30,000 fortnightly in protection money.
The contractor, Errol Hanna, is seeking damages against the university for negligence, charging that the institution failed to provide adequate security at the construction site. Hanna's contract was terminated several months after he was shot and he is also seeking damages for what he said was a breach of contract by the UWI.
Hanna said the committee had made provisions for $180,000 to be incorporated into money paid out to him to be used as protection money to a certain 'don' in the area. The money was referred to as 'security', Hanna said.
However, the UWI, which is being represented by attorneys-at-law Christopher Kelman and Malaica Wong, of Myers, Fletcher and Gordon, has denied having any knowledge of it being a part of or involved in the paying out of protection money.
Laurison Jones, a quantity surveyor who testified on behalf of the defence, under cross-examination by Hanna's lawyers, Walter Scott and Sharon Usim, said that he did not get any instructions from Dr. Conrad Douglas to make a provision in the contract for payment to any 'don' for protection money. Jones said he personally negotiated the contract with Hanna.
Mr. Justice Courtney Daye (acting) is hearing the lawsuit in the Supreme Court, in which Hanna is seeking special damages of $350,000 which include medical expenses, the loss of his firearm, which was stolen when he was shot, and loss of earnings from November 18, 1999 to January 14, 2000.
Hanna, who operates the construction company Cosmopolitan Ltd., said that when he went on campus to clear the site to build the laboratory he was approached by a man who identified himself as the 'don' for a nearby community. The man, he added, was accompanied by several of his cohorts.
MAN DEMANDED $30,000 FORTNIGHTLY
According to Hanna, the man told him that his purpose there was to offer protection and that he had all the personnel to do the construction. The man, he said, demanded $30,000 fortnightly, he (Hanna) told him that he would have to take the matter to the project committee.
A site meeting was held on October 5, 1999 and Hanna said he informed the committee of the 'don's' demands. He said he expressed concerns about adequate security for the site. He was advised at the meeting that rival groups of men from the surrounding committees of Mona Commons and Jungle 12 were competing for work. It was agreed at the meeting that security would be provided by the campus security.
Hanna said he told Dr. Conrad Douglas and Mr. Jones, the quantity surveyor, that the amount demanded by the 'don' was $180,000 for 13 weeks, which was the time allowed for the completion of the project. He said Jones enquired under what heading the money should be put and Dr. Douglas said it should be put under the heading of 'security'. Hanna said that Dr. Douglas indicated in the meeting that "this part of the agreement was off the record."
On November 18, 1999, Hanna was at the construction site when a man rode up on a bicycle and began firing randomly. Hanna was shot in the neck; George Miller, one of the workers, was killed. Hanna said he was severely traumatised by the incident.
The hearing continues.
