Witness accused of jealousy

(CNS): The crown’s key witness in the trial of Raziel Jeffers for the murder of Marcus Ebanks was described in court as “a jealous woman” who was lying about an alleged confession. During cross examination by the defendant’s attorney on Wednesday in the Grand Court the teen witness, who turned 20 on Thursday, was described as a “professional witness of untruth” who had since she was 14 associated with a number of known gang members. Jeffers lawyer, Peter Champagnie, attacked the witness’s credibility and pointed to the numerous lies she had told to the police before coming with her confession story and what he described as her “everything is true” statement.

Megan Martinez, who is the mother of one of Jeffers' children, told the police shortly after the couple parted company after a tumultuous and violent relationship that the defendant had confessed to her that he was one of the masked men who had gunned down a group of young people in a yard in West Bay in 2009. Martinez told police that Jeffers had told her that he had gone into the yard and zoned in on 20-year-old Marcus Ebanks, whom he shot by mistake as he believed it was his gang rival Jose Sanchez.

However, the attorney accused her of lying and only producing the alleged confession as a result of her jealousy after her former lover had taken up with other women. He said that at the time she was “overcome with jealousy”, which is what had motivated her to lie about the confession she said Jeffers had made to the crime.

It was revealed that Martinez had given a total of eleven statements to the police, two of which she had admitted were fabrications. These were given soon after the shooting at Bonaventure and she said were as a result of what Jeffers had told her to say.

The others, however, were given to visiting officers from the UK when she was given protection. In these statements Martinez claimed that Jeffers had confessed to her not only about the Bonaventure killings but other murders as well. She also spoke of the array of weaponry she had seen in the possession of her former lover and father of her baby.

She denied lying about the confessions and said she was not jealous and her decision to tell the police all that she knew was in an effort to protect her son.

Probed about the many lies she had told and then her decision to come forward so long after the murders, Martinez revealed her distrust of the police and said her former lover had connections with the police. The teen mother told the court that on one occasion before she revealed the details of what she knew she had gone to the police station in George Town, having been beaten by Jeffers and prepared to tell all, but she said the officer on the reception desk, who was a friend of Jeffers, and called him and told him that she was at the station.

The witness denied lying about the confessions Jeffers had made and admitted that while her relationship with Jeffers was not based on trust, there had been good times, and despite the lawyers claims that she was an unlikely person for Jeffers to confide in, she said that was not the case as there were times when he had told her “private things”.

Accused of having more than 14 gangster lovers, including Damion Ming, who was shot and killed in a West Bay Yard in March 2010, the witness emphatically denied this and admitted only to having a sexual relationship with Robert Bush and Jeffers. The lawyer listed a number of men he said had been her boyfriends and who had faced gun related issues, but she said this was not true and they were friends.

The witness concluded her evidence on Wednesday afternoon and the case will continue Thursday with telephone evidence that the crown says tracks Jeffers movement on the night three men were shot at Joseph Hurlston’s home in Bonaventure road.  Jeffers is accused of being one of two masked gunmen who opened fire on a group of men at the house in the early evening of 8 July 2009.

Marcus Ebanks was shot dead, while 14-year-old Adryan Powell, who received multiple gunshot wounds, was paralysed and Marcus’ 18-yearold brother also received several gunshot wounds from which he eventually recovered.

The crown claim that earlier in the evening Jeffers had travelled to Scranton in George Town with a man named Ozzy where they had collected the guns before returning to West Bay with the intention of killing Jose Sanchez, who was in the yard that evening but escaped the gun fire when he hid inside Hurlston’s house.