Log In

Reset Password
BERMUDA | RSS PODCAST

Murder victim ‘seemed to have something on his mind’

Gun victim Shaki Crockwell.

A woman who was Shaki Crockwell’s girlfriend when he was murdered told a jury he was due to meet his friend Kinte Smith at the location where he was shot.Prosecutors allege that Derek Spalding, who is on trial at Supreme Court, lured Mr Crockwell to the Railway Trail in Loyal Hill, Devonshire, that night on the pretext of giving him drugs to sell.They say Mr Spalding shot Mr Crockwell in the back of the head when his back was turned because Mr Spalding was upset over an unpaid drug debt.The accused man’s father and his prison friend Randy Lightbourne gave evidence for the Crown to that effect this week.Mr Lightbourne told the jury Mr Crockwell was given drugs by Mr Spalding to sell, but made him angry by not giving him the money he earned, prompting Mr Spalding to kill him.Mr Spalding denies charges of premeditated murder and using a firearm to commit that crime.The girlfriend who gave evidence yesterday cannot be named due to a reporting restriction imposed by the judge at the request of the prosecution.Answering questions from prosecutor Carrington Mahoney she told the jury she’d lived with father-of-two Mr Crockwell for eight months before his death on August 24, 2007.She said he earned money from selling drugs, as well as working for the Hustle Truck and earning money from his involvement with the Island Soccer League (ISL.)She said he told her in June 2007 that he was selling drugs for a man who had just got out of jail. Prosecutors allege that man was Mr Spalding.The woman said on the evening of his death, Mr Crockwell “seemed like there was something on his mind”. She asked him what was wrong, but he did not explain.“He told me he had to do something; he had to go pick up a package with Kinte,” she told the jury, explaining she watched him put on a bulletproof vest and leave their home.According to her, Mr Crockwell told her he was wearing the vest “just in case”. She learned he had been killed later that night.She described “Kinte” as one of Mr Crockwell’s friends. She said she saw him outside Mr Crockwell’s family home in Middletown when she went there after learning of her boyfriend’s death that night.Quizzed by defence lawyer Mark Pettingill, she explained that “Kinte’s” full name is Kinte Smith and he is a “lightskinned stocky guy” who wore his hair in braids.She believed Mr Smith to be involved in drug dealing with Mr Crockwell.Mr Pettingill suggested: “You were very specific about the fact that Shaki told you he was going to meet Kinte at Loyal Hill.”She agreed.“You always had something in your gut that Kinte knew a bit more about Shak’s murder?” asked Mr Pettingill.“At the time, yes,” replied the girlfriend.“Did you ask him about it?” asked Mr Pettingill.“No,” she replied.Asking follow-up questions, Mr Mahoney asked if she believed Kinte Smith to be the man Mr Crockwell was selling drugs for.“No,” she replied.When Mr Mahoney inquired whether she understood Mr Crockwell was going to Loyal Hill “with” Mr Smith or “to” Mr Smith that night, she replied: “As far as I know, they were meeting there.”The case continues.

<B>Accused man told victim’s father ‘I didn’t kill your son’</B>

Murder victim Shaki Crockwell’s father told a jury the alleged culprit protested: “I didn’t kill your son.”Father of four Danny Crockwell, 51, of Middletown, Pembroke, was visibly emotional as he took the witness stand for the prosecution yesterday.His first words to the Supreme Court jury were to say of Shaki, who was his only son: “He was my best friend.”He explained he met Mr Spalding one day when he came to his house to talk to his son. He explained he was “amazed” to see Mr Spalding’s motorbike had a sound system that was playing reggae music.“It caught my eye so I went to get music put in my bike a couple of months after,” he told the jury.He said he heard his son and Mr Spalding talking about some money, but did not pay any heed to the conversation.Prosecutors allege Mr Spalding shot Mr Crockwell Jr, 25, because he owed him money for drugs. A Crown witness who testified earlier this week told the court he heard a gunshot on the Railway Trail in Devonshire at 9.30pm on August 24, 2007, and loud music which he assumed came from a car.The victim’s dead body was found on the trail later that night. He had been shot in the head.Mr Crockwell Sr said when police first informed him of the murder, his first reaction was: “Not my Shaki!”The next time he saw Mr Spalding was outside his home after he’d been to the Hott 1075 radio station to do an interview about his son. “Mr Spalding came up the road on the bike, turned around and said ‘I didn’t kill your son’,” he told the jury.“I said ‘I didn’t ask you nothing. What you do in the dark will come out in the light.’ He said he didn’t do it. I said ‘if you didn’t do it, here’s my number. Call me if you hear anything’.”Mr Crockwell Sr said Mr Spalding later called his phone on November 16, 2007, which would have been his son’s birthday.“He said ‘you sent somebody to kill me’,” testified Mr Crockwell Sr, who replied, “I don’t kill. I’m a Rasta. I love peace. I love people,” before hanging up the phone.“I don’t know what he was talking about,” he added.Mr Spalding, 36, of Pembroke, denies premeditated murder and using a firearm to commit that crime. Mr Crockwell Sr is set to continue his testimony on Monday.