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Borden guilty of murder
(CNS) Full report: Justice Alex Henderson sentenced Brian Emmanuel Borden (29) to life in prison after finding him guilty of the cold blooded murder of 28-year-old Robert Macford Bush (left) in West Bay on the night of Tuesday 13 September 2011, accepting the prosecution’s case that he was one of two killers who shot Bush in the head at point blank range while he was trapped inside his car, having crashed into a wall as he tried to escape. Borden’s wife collapsed in tears outside the courtroom after the verdict was read but friends and family of Robert Bush were also emotional, as they said that Wednesday, the day of the verdict, was his daughter’s tenth birthday and that he had been a good and loving father. (Left: Robert Macford Bush)
The judge accepted most of the testimony of Marlon Dillon, the crown's key witness who had told the court that Borden had confessed the crime to him in a car early in 2012, as it had been corroborated by several independent witnesses.
Justice Henderson rejected the additional evidence that Dillon had offered in the witness box about Borden telling him that he had run from the scene of the crime, hidden the guns and then showered with H7 bleach to wash away all evidence of the crime, as the judge said he had never spoken of it before. He also did not accept that the confession in the car had taken place on 4 January 2012, finding that, if it had taken place, it happened in February or March that year, as Dillon had said in his first statement to the police on the matter.
The judge said he had good reason to be cautious about the evidence given by Mayra Ebanks, Bush’s girlfriend who was in the passenger seat of his car when he was killed and received superficial wounds from the shotgun pellets. She obviously associated with gang members and three of her boyfriends had been shot and killed, Justice Henderson said, but he believed that she had tried to tell the truth. He said she now lives in another country and in her testimony did not appear to have any bias or animosity towards Borden, with whom she had had a brief and casual sexual relationship.
He did not accept her evidence that she had overheard Borden on the other end of a phone telling Jordan Manderson that he was coming for “the things”, meaning guns, as he said that phone recognition was even more unreliable than sight recognition. However, Justice Henderson did accept her testimony otherwise, including her observations regarding what Manderson and David Ebanks had been wearing as they passed by her moments before the murder as she waited for Bush, and how this differed from the clothing of the two shooters – contradicting the defence’s assertion that these two young men were, in fact, the shooters rather than Borden and Keith Montaque.
The judge also found that Tracy Watler was a reliable and dependable witness, even though she had exaggerated the number of times she had visited Borden in prison. He said her description of Borden’s actions regarding Robert Bush, which amounted to stalking, and the repeated threats to his life supported the central assertion given by Marlon Dillon in his testimony.
The evidence given by the defence’s only witness, Renaldo “Naldo” Sanchez, which had directly contradicted the evidence given by Marlon Dillon that he had dropped Borden off at David Tomasa’s house the day of the confession, was rejected. Sanchez testified that he had never been to Tomasa’s house. However, Justice Henderson said that Sanchez had mislead the court by claiming that he had never been convicted of any offence, and when it was disclosed that he had been convicted of stealing a car, he had claimed he was a minor at the time, which was untrue. Therefore, the judge said he did not believe his evidence and said it “did not have the intended effect of proving Mr Dillon a liar”.
The cell site evidence given by an RCIPS expert witness, which he accepted in full, showed that Brian Borden’s phone was in the area of the murderand not at home with his wife, as he had claimed to police. This, he said, did not prove the location of the defendant but it was a reasonable inference that a phone registered to an individual will remain in the possession of that individual unless there was evidence to the contrary. He therefore rejected Borden’s alibi.
Henderson said there was strong and independent evidence to support the testimony given by Marlon Dillon, who could not have known that the cell site evidence would corroborate his claims that the two shooters were Borden and Montaque.
He said there was no evidence of animosity between Borden and Dillon, and he did not give credibility to the defence’s suggestion that he had implicated Borden in order to protect his family in case Tomasa, who was jailed for his part in two armed robberies partly on Dillon’s testimony, had wanted them harmed.
The judge further noted that Borden had not given evidence himself and he was entitled to draw adverse inference from his silence. He said Borden had been well represented and well advised and his silence could only be attributed to the fact that he had no answer or that his answers would not hold up in court, as he sentenced him to life in prison.
In the spate of tit-for-tat gang murders that were triggered by the death of Robert Bush, 19-year-old Jason Christian was shot dead and Keith Montague was severely injured after both of them were targeted by masked gunmen while sitting in a van in Crewe Road on 20 September 2011. Montaque was airlifted to Jamaica but never returned and efforts to trace him have failed.
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Borden obsessed, witness says
(CNS): Tracy Watler, the first witness in the trial of Brian Emmanuel Borden and David Joseph Tamasa for the murder of Robert Macford Bush on 13 September 2011, told the court Friday how Borden had on several occasions asked her to set up circumstances where he could kill Bush. While he was still in prison and in the months between his release on 5 October 2010 and the night of the shooting, he constantly asked about him to the point where, Watler said, he appeared obsessed with Bush.
Watler (24) said that she had met Borden when she was about 14 or 15 and they had had an intimate relationship when she was about 16. Sometime while Borden was still in prison they had resumed their friendship and she had started to visit him regularly. During this time they would talk often on unmonitored cell phones and, she told the court, he mentioned Bush during almost every phone call and asked where he was.
She said that Borden asked her three or four times if she would help him to “set up” Bush when he got out, which she took to mean help Borden to kill him by taking him to a particular location.
On one occasion, Watler said, she was on the phone to Borden while she was with Bush, who was having an argument with his then girlfriend. “Brian asked me to tell Robert that when he got out of prison he was going to kill him,” she said. But when she relayed this message to Bush, he just walked off with a grin, she said. “I don’t think he took me seriously.”
After Borden was released from prison their relationship had become intimate for about a month, she said, but was adamant under cross-examination that she had been the one to break up this relationship and, far from being jealous when he began seeing someone else, had in fact been relieved.
Watler said she was also friends with Robert Bush, the victim, and he had told her that he was in a sexual relationship with Mayra Ebanks. Around the same time Brian Borden also told her that he was having sex with Ebanks, she said.
Around the end of 2010 and the beginning of 2011 Watler went to live with a relative whose boyfriend was a friend of Bush. Borden was in favour of her going to live there and she told the court that she understood why: it was because she would be close to the two men.
In July 2011, she said, she spoke to Borden every day and once or twice he asked if he could sleep with her, and she believed this was because he knew that Bush slept on the couch if he had had too much to drink. Borden had told her, she said, that it would be easy to kill him. She said he used to call if he knew Bush was at the house and would ask her to let him know when he left.
One night, Watler said, after she had taken the garbage out, he called her and asked her why she was taking the garbage out so late. “You watching me, or what?” she asked him. He asked her to tell her when Bush, who was sleeping there that night, was leaving but instead she turned her phone off. In the morning there were about four or five missed calls from Borden, she said, and when he called her again late that morning he told her, “You made the mosquitoes bite me up,” which made her believe that he had been outside the house all night waiting.
Once, when Bush was sleeping on the couch, Borden had asked her if she could open the window so he could shoot him. It was said in a joking way, Watler said, but she thought that he was serious and told him she didn’t know the code for the alarm on the window.
About a week before Bush’s murder, around the time of her birthday, which is 5 August, Watler was celebrating at a nightclub when Borden called her, she told the court. She thought that he asked her if Bush and his friend were drinking at her apartment.
“I thought it was a question but he said, ‘I’m not asking you, I’m telling you that they are there.’ He asked me if I could let him know when I get home if he was still there,” she said. Watler said she told him she would but in fact she had no intention of going home that night. The next morning she found she had a number of missed calls from Borden and later he asked her why she hadn’t called him.
The trial continues in Grand Court Monday morning.
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Borden pleads not guilty to gang related murder
(CNS): Brian Borden from West Bay pleaded not guilty to the murder of Robert Mackford Bush (28) on 13 September last year. He also denied possession of an unlicensed firearm. Borden is accused of being one of two men who opened fire on Bush while he sat in his car at the junction of Birch Tree Hill Road and Capts Joe and Osbert Road in West Bay. The killing was believed to be gang related and triggered a tit-for-tat spate of killings, in which another three young men were to lose their lives in the local gang war. Borden will now stand trial for the killing on 18 February 2013.
The trial is expected to last two weeks and is heavily dependent on the evidence of one key witness who was involved in a bank robbery at Cayman National in Buckingham Square in June.
Crown depends on supergrass
(CNS): Following the acquittal of the man police believe is the mastermind behind Cayman’s largest ever bank robbery, the CNB daylight heist, as well as the WestStar robbery, and three other men involved in the bank job, the crown will need to call back its key witness. The Court of Appeal has ordered that a new trial should take place for David Tamasa, as well as George Mignott, Andre Burton and Rennie Cole early in the New Year. However, the case against the men for stealing over $500K in the armed hold-up hangs heavily on the evidence of Marlon Dillon, the prosecution's so called ‘supergrass’, who is understood to have recently been released from custody and placed in some form of witness protection.
The crown will now need to call Dillon back because without him they will not have a case against the men, which could see Tamasa, the suspected mastermind behind the allegations, and his alleged accomplices, George Mignott and Rennie Coles, walk free. Burton, who was convicted with Tamasa in the robbery of the offices of local TV station, WestStar, did not succeed on appeal against that conviction and will therefore remain in jail regardless of the outcome of the CNB retrial. Ryan Edwards, the sixth man in what police believe was a gang of robbers that included Dillon, remains convicted in both cases.
The Court of Appeal overturned the majority of the CNB convictions on a technicality regarding the failure of the judge to point out to the defendants that their decisions not to take the stand could allow the jury to draw an adverse inference. The situation did not apply to Edwards, whose appeal was dismissed and who also remains convicted of being the getaway driver in the WestStar robbery.
The three-judge panel made it clear, however, that the decision was based the technical irregularity and had nothing to do with the key witness, despite extensive arguments by all of the defence attorneys in the bank robbery appeal that Dillon’s evidence was seriously flawed.
Dillon was arrested in the immediate wake of the CNB robbery, which came after the WestStar hold up. Following his arrest and during police interviews, which have been heavily criticised for the tactics used to coerce the witness, Dillon confessed to his part in the robbery and sometime later admitted to being involved in the WestStar case.
He named a number of accomplices in both cases but several people were never prosecuted as they had full alibis and could not have played the parts indicated by Dillon. During a more than two year period in which Dillon, because of the risk to his life, was held in solitary confinement in a cell described as not being fit for human habitation, he gave numerous statements to the police regarding these robberies and that of the murder of Mackford Bush, which resulted in the conviction of Brian Borden this summer.
The statements varied wildly, however, with his evidence conflicting with telephone evidence, which led to the acquittal of Tamasa in the WestStar heiston Friday with no new trial ordered. The appeal court said in that case the crown should not be given another chance to plug its evidence gap.
Nevertheless, with a retrial order for four out of the five men originally convicted by a jury in the CNB case, the crown will still need to recall their controversial witness if they are to have any chance of securing a second conviction in the bank robbery.
Dillon was, however, sentenced just over two weeks ago by Justice Charles Quin.
As a result of his co-operation and the risk now to his life and that of his family after giving evidence, as well as the appalling conditions under which Dillon has been held since his arrest in June 2011, he was given a three year sentence. Having already served two and half years, it is understood that Dillon was released almost immediately after his sentencing.
Although he was expected to be placed under formal witness protection overseas, concerns were raised that as a result of the conviction Dillon may not be allowed to move as expected and join his family, who were whisked away by the authorities immediately after Dillon began naming the people he said had robbed the bank and the television centre’s offices.
Informer pays high price
(CNS): When Marlon Dillon was given a three year sentence Thursday for his part in the largest armed bank robbery in Cayman and a second robbery at WestStar, as a result of what was described as sustained assistance in other crimes, the court heard that Dillon had paid a high price. Described as an exceptional case, for thelast two and a half years the man has been kept in the most inhumane conditions and in solitary confinement. Unable to have visitors as his family were whisked away into witness protection, Dillon is emaciated, sick and traumatised by his experiences, yet he never asked for anything in return and committed to helping the authorities.
During the sentencing hearing that took place last month Dillon wept openly in the court, as the conditions he was being held in were revealed via video footage and still images, as his lawyer detailed his two year incarceration in a cell with no natural light. Dillon was detained in such appalling conditions as the authorities needed to protect him in order to have him testify in three different trails.
Along with the conviction of what were described as a dangerous gang of robbers involved in the CNB bank heist, in which half a million dollars was stolen, as well as the WestStar robbery, in which around $9000 was taken, Dillon assisted in the conviction of Brian Borden, a man believed to be a very dangerous criminal by police, for the killing of Mackford Bush in a gang related shooting. In both those cases he appeared in open court and testified in front of the men he was informing on.
Dillon has also assisted the police in advancing other armed robbery cases and crimes as he revealed everything he knew to the authorities. Despite all this, other than the agreement to protect him and his family from those who would now want to kill him, he has not asked for a deal regarding his sentence in exchange for his evidence.
However, despite enduring the most despicable conditions and at times being held in a cage, as Dillon leaves his solitary confinement his witness protection is in jeopardy. With a recorded conviction Dillon may not be able to join his family overseas as he will not be able to get the necessary travel papers.
During his sentencing ruling Justice Charles Quin had highlighted the invaluable assistance that Dillon had offered and gave the substantial discount on what would likely have been at least an eight year sentence and pointed out that it was to demonstrate to criminals that it is worth their while to help law enforcement when they are caught.
He noted how much Dillon had suffered, as the conditions he had been held were far worse than those prisoners would expect even in Northward. The police commissioner and the UK prison inspectorate has also described the cell where Dillon was kept for the best part of two and a half years as not fit for human habitation.
Dillon’s decision to tell the police everything was also spurred by his remorse, according to the probation and his defence attorneys. Despite being advised on numerous occasions that he did not have to do what he was doing, given the great risk, Dillon persisted with his extensive and sustained cooperation.
Prior to the crimes, which took place over a five week period in 2011, Dillon had no criminal history at all. He was a 28 year old married man who was living a quiet lawful life. But at some point he was sucked into a criminal gang. He acted as the getaway driver in the West Star heist and was paid just $400 but he was then cajoled into taking part in the now infamous bank robbery at CNB.
Had Dillon not testified against his fellow criminals however, the police would have struggled to get the gang of armed robbers behind bars as their convictions were based almost entirely on Dillon’s testimony, which was corroborated by other circumstantial evidence. He also directed police in the extradition from Jamaica of one of the bank robbers who was caught and arrested there with around $40,000 from the robbery in his car, helping the crown to secure the wider convictions of the gang.
As the judge handed down the three year sentence to Dillon, paving the way for his imminent release, Dillon once again demonstrated his remorse as he expressed his apologies to the court and the people of the Cayman Islands. Admitting that this all came about because he had been hanging with the wrong people, he said hewas deeply sorry for what he had done.
He vowed to do everything he could to live a valuable life and choose the right path forward.
In light of his apology, the judge expressed his hope that he would be reunited with his family, as he noted the heavy price the defendant had paid for what he said was “a crazy five weeks and you have paid heavily for those five weeks.”
As Dillon prepares to leave his solitary confinement and arrangements are now made for his removal from the jurisdiction, the offenders he helped to convict are appealing those convictions. David Tamasa, Andre Burton, Ryan Edwards, will argue against their convictions in the West Star case beginning Tuesday in Court One. Then, starting Monday 17 November the three men will be joined by Rennie Cole and George Mignott as all five argue against their conviction and sentence in the CNB robbery.
See related story on CNS: Supergrass-go-free
Supergrass to go free
(CNS): After almost two and half years in solitary confinement Marlon Dillon is expected to be released from jail over the next few days after he was handed a three year jail term Thursday for his part in two 2012 armed robberies. Labeled a supergrass by his own defence attorney, Dillon was the key witness not only against his accomplices in the Cayman National Bank and WestStar robberies but also in the case against Brian Borden for the murder of Mackford Bush. In all three trials prosecutors said they secured convictions because of his evidence. However, Dillon has placed himself and his family in grave danger as a result of that help to the police.
The judge explained that he had given Dillon a substantial discount for his contribution to solving the exceptionally serious crimes but said he still had to balance punishment against reward, as he sentenced him to three years. After serving more than two years and five months in virtual isolation under armed police guard, It is expected that Dillon will be released shortly.
However, what will happen to Dillon now as a result of his super-informer status is unknown. With a conviction now recorded against Dillion it may prove difficult for him to join his family.
His wife and children were removed to an undisclosed overseas jurisdiction following Dillon’s arrest in 2012, when he began making a full confession and telling police all he knew about Cayman’s criminal underworld. Dillon is considered by the authorities to be at risk of his life and he will need to remain under witness protection for the rest of his life.
Check back to CNS for more on this story later.
Cops revisit year-old killings
(CNS): The police are urging members of the public who may have information regarding three murders which took place in September and October of last year to come forward. Having reached the one year anniversary of the three fatal shootings police are revisiting the crime scenes and hoping to trigger a response from the public to help them find and charge the killers in these open and ongoing investigations. Irvin Bush was gunned down at his West Bay home, Earl Hart was shot outside his home in Prospect and Anthony Connor was killed near Mango Tree all within a three week period.
Detective Chief Inspector Malcolm Kay appealed to the public for any information they may have in connection to any of the killings.
“Recently we have had a number of successful convictions in court for both murders and manslaughter which in part was down to the support and courage of witness’s who have come forward and given evidence in court,” Kay said. “I would like to encourage everyone to follow this lead and if you have any information regardless how small you may feel it is, contact any of the police stations, the Major Incident Room at the George Town Police Station on 925 7240 or crime stoppers on 1 800 TIPS.”
The first of the three killings that police are seeing to solve was on Sunday 15 September 2013 when at Irvin Bush was shot in the Miss Daisy Lane area of West Bay near to his home. Although a number of arrests were made in connection to this incident police said that no charges have been laid. On Sunday 14 September, almost one year to the day officers from the RCIPS conducted house to house inquiries in and around Miss Daisy Lane in an effort to uncover any new witnesses or information which would lead to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the death of Bush.
The victim’s son Robert Mackford Bush had also been killed in the district two years before in September 2011. Brian Borden was convicted of that crime this summer and is currently serving a life sentence in Northward.
A few weeks later Earl Hart was shot and killed outside his home on Marina Drive, Prospect at around 9.30pm in the evening. Although arrests were made in connection to his murder the suspects were released. Officers now plan to return to the scene where Hart was killed this Sunday and conduct house to house inquiries as well as seek assistance from passing motorists in an effort to find information that could lead to an arrest and conviction of those responsible.
Just a week after Hart was killed On Friday 11 October, last year, Anthony Connor was gunned down outside the Mango Tree Bar and Restaurant at about 9.15pm in the evening. Although this incident occurred close to a very busy bar and intersection very few witnesses came forward and no arrests were made in connection to his murder. Police will conduct a walkthrough of the bar and restaurant next Friday (10 October) in an effort to gather any new leads in the case.
The RCIPS is urging anyone who may have information to come forward by contacting the Major Incident Room at the George Town Police Station on 925 7240 or crime stoppers on 1800 TIPS.
No sex in jail house weddings
(CNS): Despite the common misconception that prisoners housed at HMP Northward enjoy an easy life, including marital benefits, the prison director has confirmed that jail house weddings convey no particular advantage to prisoners and do not lead to conjugal visits. Neil Lavis said that no serving inmates at Northward are allowed private visits with their spouses and those prisoners who choose to marry while serving a sentence receive no particular benefits as a result of formalising their relationships with their partners on the outside. The prison boss told CNS that the jail sees around two wedding ceremonies per year and although prisoners have a right to marry should they wish, Lavis says he encourages most inmates to wait until they are released before tying the knot.
Lavis said that prisoners and their partners are offered counselling before marrying and he advises people to wait for obvious reasons.
Following the news that Brian Borden, who was convicted last month of the murder of Robert Mackford Bush in a gang related killing, had married his girlfriend in a wedding ceremony at the prison, Lavis confirmed that like any other prisoner Borden had a right to marry. However, he said, there would be no advantage to him as an inmate who is now convicted of murder and serving a mandatory life sentence or his new wife because of their decision to marry.
Lavis confirmed that jail house weddings follow a set format: the ceremony is performed in the prison chapel, and prisoner and spouse are able to invite up to ten friends and family to the celebration. After the ceremony the inmates can enjoy around 30 minutes socialising and eating with their guests but the entire wedding is supervised by prison officers and there are certainly no champagne corks popping.
The couple are not allowed to be alone at any timeduring the nuptials, Lavis explained, adding that there is no policy at all at HMP Northward which allows any prisoner to visit in private with a legal spouse.
Although some prisoners who have been serving life or long sentences and are likely to be released on license in the near future are allowed to visit their familiesas part of the transition to release, they are still not given any privacy visiting rights in the prison itself.
Newly convicted lifer tied knot in jailhouse wedding
(CNS): A man who was convicted last week of the murder of Robert Macford Bush in a gang-related shooting tied the knot in prison while on remand for his crime. Brian Borden, who was sentenced to a mandatory life sentence, married his girlfriend in HMP Northward in June. The pictures of Borden's wedding ceremony were posted on Facebook recently and show the couple dressed in full wedding gear just weeks ahead of Borden's trial, despite facing a lifetime behind bars. All inmates are allowed to marry if they choose and Borden and his girlfriend would have been given counseling, given his potential sentence. However, on hearing the verdict last week his new bride was distraught and collapsed outside the courthouse.
Borden, who has been in jail since his arrest almost two years ago, was found guilty of shooting Bush, his gang rival, in a killing which triggered a series of gang related tit-for-tat murders across Grand Cayman in which several young man were gunned down.
Bush was shot as he sat in his car at the junction of Birch Tree Hill Road and Capts Joe and Osbert Rd in West Bay, after crashing the vehicle in his efforts to escape the two armed gunmen.
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Alternative shooters offered
(CNS): Brian Borden’s defence against the charge that he and Keith Montaque shot and killed Robert Bush on 13 September 2011 has two main strands, as outlined in Grand Court Tuesday by Trevor Burke, QC, in his closing statement: firstly that an equally credible, or even better, case could be made for the shooters being Jordan Manderson and David Ebanks, and secondly that Marlon Dillon, the key witness for the prosecution, is not credible. Pointing to a number of statements that Dillon gave to the police that were later proved to be completely false, and the fact that he may be trying to curry favour with the court as he awaits sentencing for his part in two armed robberies, Burke called him a “tainted witness” and a “skilled and manipulative liar”.
Building the case against Manderson and Ebanks as alternative candidates for the murder, Borden’s lead defence lawyer referred to the testimony of Mayra Ebanks, who was in the passenger seat of the car in which Bush was murdered. According to her evidence, Manderson had told her that members of the Birch Tree Hill Gang wanted to kill Bush, her boyfriend, but had reassured her that they would have to get the weapons from him. So by this admission, the defence argued, Manderson claimed to be the armourer for the gang, and so would have access to the weapons that were used against Bush, and also highlighted the fact that that there were a number of people who wanted Bush dead.
Also from Mayra Ebanks’ evidence: the night before the shooting when Bush, who was associated with the Logwoods Gang, had picked her up from the junction of Capts Joe and Osbert Rd and Birch Tree Hill Rd in West Bay, he had driven into the nearby yard of Tishara Webster to get some Rizla papers and had had a confrontation with Manderson, a member of therival gang. By doing so, Burke suggested, Bush had disrespected Manderson in front of his friends, especially as he had a romantic affection for Mayra. She had told the court that Manderson had “come on to her” severaltimes but she had told him that he was too young for her.
Manderson and David Ebanks knew that Bush was on his way to pick up Mayra on the night of the murder through a series of BBMs. The crown’s case is that they passed this information onto Borden, who used it to kill Bush. However, Burke noted that while Manderson and Ebanks passed Mayra as she waited for Bush to pick her up in the usual spot just minutes before he was killed, there is no evidence that puts Borden right at the scene of the murder. In fact, he argued, cell phone communication between them would indicate that he was somewhere else.
Conceding that the cell site and phone evidence blew holes in Borden’s alibi that he was at home with his girlfriend (now his wife) at the time of the murder, Burke said all that proved was that he was somewhere in West Bay, not that he was at the junction where the murder took place.
In addition, Burke noted that in the immediate aftermath of the murder, Mayra Ebanks' first reaction was to say that the two shooters had come out of Tishara Webster’s yard, where the defence’s two alternative suspects had gone to a few minutes beforehand. However, when people came running to the scene after the shooting, Manderson and Ebanks were not among them, he said.
Burke pointed to the similarity in the descriptions of the clothing Manderson and Ebanks were wearing that night to those of the shooters’ clothing, both of which were given by Mayra – though, as the crown noted, she also pointed to a few significant differences. These items of clothing had later been found hidden in a white bag in the loft space of David Ebanks’ grandmother’s house, Burke said.
David Ebanks had also been found with shotgun cartridges in his trouser pocket that had been processed by the same firearm that killed Bush, Burke noted.
All these facts raise a clear prima facie case against Manderson and Ebanks, the defence told the court.
Turning to the evidence of Marlon Dillon, Burke said he had two motives to lie about Borden’s supposed confession to him that he had killed Bush. Firstly, to ingratiate himself in court before his sentencing for his part in the CNB and WestStar armed robberies. While his testimony in those two trials, which had helped to convict the other robbers, had already resulted in as much reduction in his sentence as he was likely to get, Burke noted that, having implicated Borden, if he had not given evidence it would have gone against him.
The second reason for Dillon to lie was that, as he had told police in a statement on 10 July 2012, just after his arrest for robbery, he was particularly fearful of David Tomasa, whose case in the Bush murder trial was dismissed Monday but who is serving 14 years for the CNB and WestStar robberies. Dillon had told police that if Tomasa put the word out for his wife to be murdered, then Brian Borden would be the one to do it. Following Dillon’s statement to the police two days later accusing Borden of murder, he had been remanded in custody, removing him off the streets, so he could not hurt Dillon’s wife.
Burke pointed to “the merry dance” that Dillon had led police in a series of statements regarding both robberies, including the elaborate story he had concocted when first arrested on the day of the CNB robbery that he had been kidnapped by the robbers, stripped down to his underwear and locked in the trunk of his own car.
Initially he had told police that his role in the WestStar robbery had been as a getaway driver, for which he had received just $400, which was disproved by CCTV evidence. In anticipation of being confronted with the truth, he had even accused the police officers of fabricating what he had said.
“There is no doubt that he is a vile criminal,” Burke said.
Dillon’s testimony that on the day of the confession about the murder Brian Borden had been droppedoff at Tomasa’s house by Renaldo “Naldo” Sanchez had been sharply contradicted by Sanchez’ own testimony that he did not know Tomasa at all and had never been to his house. If Sanchez is to be believed, it completely undermines Dillon’s credibility, Burke said.
However, Andrew Radcliffe, QC, the lead prosecutor, said that when Dillon had implicated Borden, he could not possibly have known that it would be supported by other evidence, which gave credence to his testimony.
Radcliffe said that the supporting evidence – from Tracy Watler, from Mayra Ebanks, from an eye-witness that places him near the scene of the crime about an hour after the murder, as well as the cell site evidence given by an RCIPS expert witness – was all completely independent and was consistent with Dillon’s testimony.
He said that unless a series of unrelated witnesses either told lies about Borden or were wrong, it was “an extraordinary coincidence” that their evidence supported Dillon’s testimony.
The evidence exists that Marlon Dillon is an accurate, honest and reliable witness, Radcliffe submitted.
The case is being heard in a judge-alone trial before Justice Alex Henderson.
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