Murder Trial: Gun Used In Other Shootings

This afternoon [May 16], in the Kevin Warner murder trial, having heard the read-in evidence from the Florida-based ballistics expert used by the Bermuda Police, and in explaining to the Jury, Justice Carlyle Greaves said: “This is a busy firearm.”

The Justice was referring to the evidence from the expert which said that the bullets recovered from the body of Dekimo Martin had been fired from the same weapon used in the Colford Ferguson murder which occurred in Somerset earlier this year, as well as the attempted murder of Randy Lightbourne which also occurred in the west end.

In addition, evidence was presented that the same firearm was used in two separate shootings in which there were no victim. These shootings and firearms usages had taken place in the twelve months between March 2010 and February 2011.

Justice Greaves advised the Jury that this evidence indicated that there was one firearm in use, and that the actual make – Ruger, Luger, Smith – was not the issue. The issue was one firearm with one set of ballistic characteristics was being used.

The trial getting underway after the lunch break and a site visit to Peacock Crescent and environs, heard from forensic pathologist and expert witness Dr Chitra Rau MD, FRPS of Ontario, Canada. In her forty minute testimony, she told the court that she had given evidence in over 350 homicides. At KEMH, and with Police witnesses present, Dr Rau had performed the forensic autopsy on Mr Martin’s body.

With pictures of the victim’s body displayed for the benefit of the Jurors, referring to the pictures, she gave evidence that Mr Martin had received three bullet wounds. She said that based on the entry and exit points, all three bullets had been fired from by a shooter who was shooting from behind him.

She described three wounds to the victim’s torso. Dr Rau said one bullet “nicked” his aorta, which is the main artery carrying blood to the heart, and that this was a fatal wound.

The second bullet struck on his lower back, which Dr Rau said did not damage any vital organs and was not a fatal shot. The third bullet struck in his upper back and exited to the right of his body’s midline. Dr Lau said that this bullet damaged his liver and was a fatal shot.

Questioned for ten minutes by QC Hollis defending Warner, Dr Rau said that she could not definitively determine the order in which the bullets had struck. Answering other questions, Dr Rau said that the other injuries to Mr Martin’s body – a bruising over his right eye and lacerations to his left elbow – could have been caused when he had fallen.

During the forty minute questioning by Crown Prosecutor Carrington Mahoney, Dr Rau had said that death might not have been instantaneous. She said that only a brain shot or a complete rupturing of the aorta caused a person to ‘drop dead’. In all other cases of injury, a person might live for seconds or even minutes even though death from the injury was inevitable.

The trial of 21-year-old Kevin Andre Warner started on May 9th in the Supreme Court. Mr Warner is alleged to have murdered 24-year-old Dekimo “Purple” Martin on May 28th, 2010. The two men were well known to each other and said to be friends. Mr Warner has pleaded not guilty.

The trial continues…………

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