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Ex-girlfriend: Rogers ‘confessed’ to killing

A man charged with premeditated murder confessed to the killing, his ex-girlfriend told a jury yesterday.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the Supreme Court trial that Cleveland Rogers said he had killed Marcus Gibbings.

She said that Mr Rogers told her: “Yes, I f***ing done it.

The witness added: “He wasn’t angry or anything.

“I wouldn’t say bragging — but I wouldn’t say nonchalant. Just ‘Yes, I f***ing done it’.”

The body of Mr Gibbings, 32, was found inside an apartment on Derwent Lane, in Devonshire, on October 26, 2006.

Katrina Burgess, Mr Gibbings’s ex-girlfriend, and Mr Rogers, her half-brother, are charged with premeditated murder.

The prosecution has claimed that Mr Gibbings was lured to the apartment he had shared with Ms Burgess and was stabbed to death by Mr Rogers. Both deny the charge.

The witness told Crown prosecutor Carrington Mahoney that Mr Rogers did not give details of the murder at the time he first confessed.

She added that Mr Rogers later said he had killed Mr Gibbings because he had cheated on Ms Burgess.

Mr Mahoney asked the woman if Mr Rogers had later discussed how he carried out the killing.

She said: “He said that he hid behind the couch. He just said ‘I got him from behind’.”

The woman added that Mr Rogers did not tell her how he had killed Mr Gibbings.

She told jurors that Mr Rogers had told her that Ms Burgess was to pay him $5,000 for killing Mr Gibbings.

The witness said that she and Mr Rogers lived together in an apartment on Crossland Lane, Pembroke, at the time of Mr Gibbings’s death.

She added that she had been in the apartment on the night of October 25. The woman said that Mr Rogers had left the apartment at about 9pm and that he “didn’t come home until 5.30am the next morning”.

She told jurors that she had turned on an apartment light when Mr Rogers entered through a sliding-glass door.

The witness said that Mr Rogers had told her to turn the light off. She added: “He was serious.”

The woman said that she asked Mr Rogers what had happened, but was assured nothing was wrong.

She added: “I knew something had happened just by the way he said it.”

The witness said that Mr Rogers went to the bathroom and then laid down on the bed.

She described: “I put my hand on his chest and said ‘What’s the matter?’

“He said ‘nothing’. He didn’t even want me to touch him.

“It was like he was there but not there.”

The woman said she could not remember what Mr Rogers was wearing when he got home.

She told jurors that a “Rambo” knife which she saw “every day” was kept on a TV stand in the apartment.

Mr Mahoney asked her when she had last seen the knife.

The witness responded that it was the night of October 25.

She added: “I didn’t see it the next day.”

Marc Daniels, for Mr Rogers, asked the witness if she was aware that Mr Rogers, known as “Cleevy”, had been unfaithful to her.

He asked: “You knew that Cleevy had stepped out at night-time and had affairs with other women?”

She responded yes.

The witness agreed with Mr Daniels that Mr Rogers had not showered after he arrived back at Crossland Lane in the early hours.

She also agreed that Mr Rogers had come home, taken off his clothes and left them in his normal spot on the couch.

Mr Daniels highlighted testimony the witness gave that Mr Rogers had told her that he killed Mr Gibbings because he cheated on Ms Burgess.

He said Mr Rogers had not met Ms Burgess until 2004 and they “weren’t tight”.

The woman agreed, but added: “He was looking for the dollar signs.”

The trial continues.

It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding criminal court cases. This is to prevent any statements being published that may jeopardise the outcome of that case.