By Shanique Richards
St. Kitts Reporter
The murder trial of Romeo ‘Buncome’ Cannonier, which began on Monday, was adjourned until next week because the judge and jury still have not heard from several of the 30 witnesses.
Cannonier was charged with the murder of Police Constable #454 Delvin Nisbett committed on July 25, 2004 where, according to the particulars of the case, Cannonier met the officer while he was walking along the road in Dieppe Bay and shot and killed him.
The prosecutor, Sir Richard Cheltenham of Barbados, in his opening statement alleged that Cannonier shot Nisbett several times, in his head, chest, abdomen, neck and back, and that based on a pathologist’s report, Nisbett died as a result of hemorrhage and shock. The prosecution lined up 30 witnesses testify in the case, two of whom were deceased, Sergeant Clive Benjamin and Gavin ‘Magilla’ Gilbert.
The prosecutor made it clear to the jury that specific attention must be given to the testimony of Makenia Lucas Lawrence who is the girlfriend of Cannonier. Lawrence claimed that Cannonier had confessed to killing Nisbett and had given reasons as to why.
“He told me that he had done something bad, that he killed someone. I then told me that he and a partner had shot a police officer in Parson’s and killed. He said that he killed him because the officer had roughed him up while he was in prison. He told me that he hid the gun in some grass after he took some money off of him,” she testified under oath.
Lawrence also stated that the accused asked her to steal a gun owned by Michael Powell, whom she was also intimate with at the same time, and when she refused he told her that he would steal it himself. Powell also testified that his gun had been stolen and identified the gun that was in police custody as evidence, as belonging to him.
Rhonda Craig, a DNA forensic examiner of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, who stated that DNA testing had proved that the DNA of Nisbett was found on some money that was in Cannonier’s possession when he was arrested, gave key witness testimony.
“I was given a blood sample of the deceased, a pair of boots, one US dollar bill and one EC five dollar bill. After my team of biologists did the test on the sample there was no DNA found on the boots and the DNA that was found on the US dollar bill was not that of Nisbett. However, my serologist then reported that there was DNA found on the five-dollar bill which matched the DNA of Nisbett. This test was was done in nine different areas and it was an exact match in all nine,” she said.
The testimony of Gavin Gilbert was read by Police Sgt. Glenroy Browne which detailed conversations between Gilbert and the accused where Cannonier allegedly gave Gilbert a map showing him where to find the gun he had used to kill the officer.
Lionel Warner gave testimony of a conversation between himself and the accused as they were both in prison at the same time and shared a cell together. He said that Cannonier asked him if he had gotten a gun from Gilbert because police had been questioning him about the gun that they accused him of shooting the police officer with.
“He told me to tell ‘Hot Boy’ not to forget about de ting. He was referring to a girl that he wanted him to get rid of but I can’t remember her name. He then told me to tell Tulu to get rid of Magilla. I was then released in December 2004 and I delivered the messages,” he said.
The trial will resume next week as the remainder of the prosecution’s witnesses are expected to take the stand.
