Crown calls last witness

(CNS): After five explosive days of revelations of Operation Tempura in the Lyndon Martin (left) trial last week, the first day of the second week opened mostly behind closed doors as the legal teams argued points of law before Judge Roy Anderson. Court resumed around 2:30pm on Monday when the Crown called its final live witness, Richard Coy, a detective sergeant and a member of Operation Tempura’s Special Police Investigation Team (SPIT), who had arrested and interviewed Martin. Confirming details of Martin’s arrest on 27 March 2007, he revealed that aside from other SPIT officers, Superintendent Kurt Walton from the RCIPS was also present.

After Coy described the arrest to the court, Andrew Radcliffe, QC for the Crown asked him to read from the written summaries of the 19 interviews which SPIT conducted with Martin over a three day period with regard to the Operation Tempura investigation. Coy told the court that in the first interview Martin had at first remained silent on the advice of his lawyer but then, after discussing the issues with his attorney, in the second interview he began answering the questions of the Operation Tempura officers.

As he read from Martin’s statements, Coy revealed how Martin had begun to realise that his accusations that RCIPS Deputy Commissioner Anthony Ennis had leaked sensitive information to Cayman Net News editor in chief, Desmond Seales, were more than likely wrong but that he had believed them at the time.

Martin told the officers during the interview that he had first mentioned his concerns that Seales was receiving sensitive police information directly to Deputy Commissioner Rudolph Dixon after seeing him by chance in Royal Palms on Seven Mile Beach, where he had told him to watch out as there was a leak in the RCIPS.

Coy read how the SPIT officers had told Martin that they could prove his accusations were wrong. Coy told the court that the SPIT officers had revealed that many of the accusations Martin had made were based on stories that had originated from the accidental email sent by police press officer, Deborah Denis.

Coy told the court that the officers had allowed Martin a break to study the documents that they had shown him that came from Denis. When he returned to the interview, Martin explained how he had never seen the front or cover page before that moment and so had not made the connection before then. He told the officers that he had received some of the minutes as documents in his electronic desk folder from Seales but did not know this was where they came from.

Coy told the jury that during the interview Martin admitted that a lotof the assumptions he had made came directly from the document but he did not know that this was the specific document that had been accidently sent by Denis as he had never seen it in its entirety but merely been told about it.

Coy also read of how Lyndon Martin had said he that he could not understand how the SPIT had only been able to show one provable telephone call between Ennis and Seales in two years.

Continuing to read from Martin’s statements, Coy revealed how Martin had told the officers that Seales had given the impression that he had a high up source in the police by his knowledge, the things he said and mannerisms and body language. Seales, he said, gave the impression it was Ennis. Coy told the court that Martin had said in his statement that Seales would tell Martin that he was confident about the details of a story because he said it had come from what Seales would call “my boy”.

Coy read how Martin told the officers that he had begun to have his own doubts during the months that had passed since he had last spoken with any of the officers from the UK that the assumptions he made might be wrong. He conceded during the interview that he may have exaggerated the number of hard copy emails he seen, but he said he really had believed that Ennis was Seales’ source.

Coy’s testimony was interrupted when the court adjourned for the day and is scheduled to continue at 10:00am tomorrow (Tuesday), when Coy is expected to read the complete summaries of Martin’s statements before facing cross examination from defence counsel, Trevor Burke QC.