Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterTHE BRAETON murder trial continued yesterday with Daniel Wray, government ballistics expert, testifying that a spent shell which he found in a kitchen sink at the crime scene came from one of the M-16 rifles he received for testing.
Wray, who is a retired assistant commissioner of police, was testifying at the trial of the six policemen charged with the murder of seven young men.
The Crown is alleging at the trial, which began in the Home Circuit Court on January 17, that the police were not acting in lawful self-defence when the men were fatally shot on March 14, 2001.
Policemen called to testify for the Crown said that when they went to the house at Lot 1088 Fifth Seal Way, Braeton, St. Catherine, men from inside fired at them and they returned the fire. Four firearms which the policemen said were recovered from the house, were tendered into evidence at the trial.
Wray said that between March 19, 2001, and April 30, 2001 he received a number of firearms including M-16 rifles from Detective Sergeant D. Edwards of the Bureau of Special Investigations. He said he conducted tests on them and found them to be in good working condition.
DEFENCE LAWYERS OBJECT
On being asked if they could have been fired on March 14, 2001, defence lawyers objected to the question. Wray could not say how the firearms were stored before he received them. He said he could only say they could have been fired about a week before March 14, 2001 and the time he received them.
He said he visited the crime scene on March 14, 2001, and apart from the spent shell in the kitchen sink, he also found three fragments of bullets on the floor. He said he conducted tests and found that the spent shell came from one of the firearms he received from Sgt. Edwards on March 19, 2001. He added that he found a fragment of an M-16 bullet on the living room floor and that came from one of the firearms Sgt. Edwards handed over on March 29, 2001.
Wray told the court that he found the fragment of a 9mm bullet on the bathroom floor and that it came from a firearm which Detective Sergeant A. Robinson handed over to him on March 19, 2001. The fragments and spent shell were tendered into evidence. He said he did not come to a conclusion in respect of the third fragment.
Wray will continue to give evidence today when the trial resumes before Justice Donald McIntosh and the jury.
