Former C-TOC Cop Identifies Carlos Williams After Courtroom Shirt-Swap Attempt

Despite a seating shuffle and surreptitious shirt swap among defendants, a former cop, who had arrested Klansman accused gangster Carlos Williams in April 2023, on Friday took seconds flat to pick him out from among the 25 accused during a dock identification process.

The former cop, whose evidence goes to two counts of the indictment brought by the Crown in the ongoing trial of the so-called Tesha Miller faction of the Klansman gang, during his evidence in chief had detailed how Williams was arrested and charged during a pre-dawn operation by the then Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime (C-TOC) unit at Okra Lane, Spanish Town, St Catherine, on Sunday, April 16, 2023.

He said following the search of the premises he arrested and charged the then 27-year-old after finding 30 blank cards with magnetic strips and two embossed bank cards bearing the logo of a Jamaican bank in a Ziploc bag in a dresser drawer.

He said Williams, a labourer, told him that the two bank cards belonged to him, and that the bank cards were bought for him by his girlfriend who lived abroad.

On Friday, the former lawman, while being led through his evidence by an acting deputy director of public prosecutions, was asked if he would be able to identify Williams if he saw him again. He answered in the affirmative but was stopped short from carrying out the identification by an objection from attorney Petreta Gabbidon, who asked that he dismount the stand and wait outside while she addressed the court.

Gabbidon, who represents Williams alongside attorney Lynden Wellesley, requested that the prisoners in the dock be reshuffled before the lawman returned.

Trial judge Justice Dale Palmer facilitated the request, instructing those of the defendants wearing facial masks to remove them, and “sit upright” so they could be clearly seen.

A number of the accused, during the former cop’s testimony, had slumped down in the seats, some so bent that their faces were completely obscured.

While carrying out the judge’s instructions, Williams, who migrated to the main dock, leaving his assigned seat in the secondary dock, was observed hunched over removing the blue patterned shirt that he had worn originally and giving it to another defendant. That defendant was also in the process of removing his own shirt to complete the swap.

The exchange, however, was not accomplished as the trial judge, on spotting the men who had removed their outer shirts, revealing white undershirts, said, “Hold on, this whole heap of changing of clothes, and so on, can’t take place in here, you cannot be taking off your clothes in here.”

With the attempted shirt exchange interrupted, the two remained in white T-shirts sitting side by side.

The former cop, upon retaking the stand and asked to identify Williams, dismounted, strode to both sides of the courtroom to peer briefly into the docks before returning to the stand to say, “The person in the back row, second to the last person on the right.”

After the former cop’s identification, Justice Palmer asked the defendant: “What is your name, Sir?”

“Carlos Williams,” came the doleful reply from the accused man who looked crestfallen.

The former cop said that Williams was charged with “possession of an access device”.

Williams along with Jermaine Clarke and Owen Billings are charged under counts 28 and 29 of the indictment brought by the Crown with “knowingly facilitating” the August 11, 2022 robbery and murder of St Catherine man Zamari McKay.

On Friday, Wellesley took aim at the lawman, accusing him of “sneaking up on his client like Nicodemus, [the biblical figure who went to Jesus by night]”, in the pre-dawn attack, to which the cop replied, “I was on a targeted operation

Wellesley went on to challenge the former cop’s recollection of the items he had taken from Williams, charging that, “I am suggesting to you that the only card you found relating to my client is the one with his name on it.”

In a later suggestion Wellesley said his client also took ownership of the 30 blank cards but insisted “the other card was not found there”.

“The suggestion is incorrect,” the former cop replied quietly.

In the meantime, attorney Denise Hinson, who represents the accused Owen Billings and Jermaine Clarke, took the former lawman to task about the records in his notebook. Hinson, who questioned the witness at length about the time in which he made his notation about the day of the operation and other matters related to the investigation, said it was her belief that he had only recently made the entries and had not done so in 2023 as he had told the court.

“Your entry relating to this matter is a recent concoction,” Hinson declared.

According to the lawman, after the arrest on April 16, 2023 he had made his last notes on April 27 and concluded his statement on the matter. He resigned from the constabulary about a year after.

The matter resumes on Monday morning at 10:00 in the Home Circuit Division of the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston.