Court hears of murder victim's alleged gang links
A police expert detailed the alleged gangland links of murdered Court Street resident Raymond (Yankee) Rawlins and of the man on trial over the killing.According to Detective Sergeant Alexander Rollin of the gang targeting unit, Mr Rawlins had links to the Parkside gang while Mr Cox is a member of their rivals, 42. Detailing Mr Rawlins' history, Det Sgt Rollin explained he was a Court Street resident and businessman who used to be a member of the Front Line Crew.He said: “This crew came together in the late 1990s and early 2000s and they were involved predominantly in acts of violence and the sale of controlled drugs.”The trial has heard that when Mr Rawlins was examined by a pathologist after he was shot dead, he was found to have the words “Front Line” and “Psalm 23” tattooed on his upper right arm.In more recent times, Det Sgt Rollin said he was seen in the company of members of the Parkside and Middletown gangs from Pembroke. Parkside territory includes Court Street.Meanwhile, Det Sgt Rollin named David Cox, who is accused of shooting Mr Rawlins dead on that street last August, as a member of the rival 42 gang.“The 42nd gang are known for the sale of controlled drugs, firearms offences and acts of violence,” he said. He showed the jury a photo of a tattoo on Mr Cox's bicep reading “Coxy 42nd Holla.”He also told them about his gold neck chain with a “42” pendant and explained he would see him every time he drove through the 42 gang's St Monica's Road heartland.Det Sgt Rollin told the jury: “In the last three or four years there's been an ongoing feud between Parkside and 42nd. The root cause is unknown. It appears to revolve around the sale of controlled drugs, but now encompasses a series of retaliatory attacks on each gang.”He explained that any insult or assault committed against one of the gangs' members is “perceived as an act not just against the person but against the entire gang membership”.He said this would provoke a revenge attack against the other gang, involving a severe beating or a killing.Mr Cox's friend Julian Washington, said by Det Sgt Rollin to be a member of the 42 gang, was shot at the Mid Atlantic Boat Club on North Shore Road, Devonshire, less than an hour before Mr Rawlins was killed.According to previous evidence from Detective Constable Shawnta Edmonson, police believe the boat club was targeted “because of the common knowledge that it's a hangout for the 42nd members”.Mr Cox told police during an interview over the Rawlins murder that he was at the boat club that night, but did not see the shooting.When Detective Constable Don DeSilva asked him: “Are you affiliated with any local gangs?” Mr Cox replied: “Nope, I hang up St Monica's. It depends what you're calling a gang.”He later referred to the St Monica's area as “42nd”.Asked about Mr Rawlins' alleged connections with the rival Parkside gang, Mr Cox said: “I don't have anything to do with it. If he wants to hang around with them it's up to him.”He denied having ill feelings towards the victim, explaining “me and him used to sit off and talk years ago” but “I ain't seen Yankee in years”.Asked by Det Con Warren Bundy during the interview for his thoughts on “all this shooting going on around the Island,” Mr Cox replied: “It's crazy.”When asked how he felt that Mr Rawlins had been killed, Mr Cox said he did not feel anything, explaining: “It's not going to bring my friends back.”Det Con Bundy then suggested: “You're a pretty cold guy; you're saying it's not going to bring your friends back, you ain't got no sympathy.”The accused man replied: “I'm saying him getting shot, it ain't gonna make things no better, it ain't gonna make things no worse.”During a later police interview, Mr Cox explained he'd lost several friends to gunfire. Naming them as Shane Minors, Kumi Harford, Kenwandee Robinson and Perry Puckerin Jr, he remarked: “It hurts I don't see them any more, I can't say ‘come for a drink' like we used to.”Mr Cox denies the premeditated murder of Mr Rawlins and using a firearm to commit the murder, and the case continues.
David Cox denied murdering Raymond (Yankee) Rawlins, telling detectives he was “just chilling with a girl” that night and “it wasn't me”.
Mr Cox is accused of being one of two gunmen who shot Mr Rawlins, 47, as he walked into the Spinning Wheel nightclub on Court Street, Pembroke, early on August 9 2010.
Yesterday, the jury viewed a videotaped police interview conducted with Mr Cox after he turned himself in to Hamilton Police Station later that morning. Detective Constables Don DeSilva and Warren Bundy pressed him over his whereabouts at the time of the murder.
Denying any role in the crime, Mr Cox told the detectives he was at the Mid Atlantic Boat Club on North Shore Road, Devonshire, from around 8pm on August 8 “just eating food and chilling”.
He explained he was talking to some girls inside the club when his friend Julian Washington got shot and injured outside the venue.
Mr Cox said he heard, but did not see, the shooting and after it happened “we all went in the girls' bathroom”.
The jury has previously heard Mr Washington was shot at the boat club around 11.45pm on August 8 and Mr Rawlins was gunned down less than an hour later, at 12.23am on August 9.
Mr Cox said he'd arrived at the boat club on Mr Washington's bike and left after the shooting in a car with “just this girl” who gave him a ride.
According to Mr Cox, they went “down the country, chilling in this girl's yard”.
An eyewitness, Michael Parsons, gave evidence earlier in the trial that he recognised Mr Cox as one of the gunmen in the Rawlins murder despite him wearing a hood.
Informed by Det Con DeSilva that an eyewitness had named him as one of Mr Rawlins' attackers, and the incident was caught on security cameras, Mr Cox replied: “It wasn't me.”
He refused to identify the woman he was using as his alibi despite Det Con DeSilva telling him: “Now's the time to be saving your a*s.”
The jury has heard from forensic experts that Mr Cox's DNA was discovered, along with gunshot residue, on a latex glove found in trash in the St Monica's Road area after the murder.
A green car allegedly used as the getaway vehicle was found nearby.
Mr Cox told detectives he'd worn latex gloves at a house belonging to the Dublin family on “Pond Hill” the week before as he was fixing a bike there.
He denied any knowledge of the green car, which was stolen three days earlier from the St Monica's area
Mr Cox, of Club Road, Smith's, explained he turned himself in to Hamilton Police Station after his mother told him police had arrived at her home. He is the only person on trial in connection with Mr Rawlins' death and denies charges of premeditated murder and using a firearm to commit murder. The case continues.
