Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

Three witnesses have so far testified of seeing 59-year-old farmer and con-tractor Milton 'Tony' Welsh, of Brandon Hill, St. Andrew, on the premises where 22-year-old Damion Hussey was fatally stabbed on the evening of January 15.

Welsh, a People's National Party (PNP) activist, is charged with Hussey's murder.

The police had reported that men who were travelling in a bus were returning from a PNP rally for the official launch of the presidential campaign for Security Minister Dr. Peter Phillips. When the bus reached Golden Spring in St. Andrew, stones were thrown at the vehicle. Men from the bus came off to inquire who was stoning the bus and Hussey was fatally stabbed.

Witnessed act

One of the witnesses, Elaine Gooden, testified on Monday and Tuesday in the Home Circuit Court that she knew Welsh before and she saw him stabbing Hussey. She said Hussey was inside his yard at the time when he was stabbed. Two other witnesses, Fabian Hussey and Beverly Lennox-Facey, said they saw Welsh and other persons on the premises but they did not witness the stabbing. Lennox-Facey said Wednesday that she saw Welsh with a knife or a cutlass in his hand.

Fabian Hussey, 23, and a cousin of the deceased, said he knew Welsh for 11 years. K.D. Knight, Q.C., one of the five lawyers representing Welsh, suggested to the witness under cross-examination that he could not have known Welsh during that time because Welsh was living abroad from 1983 to 2001, but the witness did not reply.

The Crown, represented by Crown Counsel, Stephanie Jackson-Haisley, Dirk Harrison and Jeremy Taylor, is alleging that Welsh fatally stabbed Hussey about 7:15 p.m. on January 15, 2006.