Final Prosecution – By Latrishka Thomas
Final Prosecution Witness Takes
The lead investigator in the murder trial of three men accused of killing senior Customs officer Nigel Christian began giving evidence on Wednesday before Justice Rajiv Persaud and will continue her testimony on Thursday, bringing the prosecution to the final stage of its case.
The investigator, a female sergeant attached to the Serious Crimes Unit, is the last witness the Crown intends to call before closing its case and making way for the defence.
Saleim Harrigan, Wayne Thomas and Lasean Bully are on trial charged with abducting Christian from his McKinnons home at gunpoint on July 10, 2020 and shooting him dead on a dirt road in Thibou’s that afternoon. Christian was a senior Customs official who had reportedly been part of a team investigating fraud at the time of his death, alongside colleague Cornell Benjamin, who was shot months before his own death.
Before the final witness took the stand, an Assistant Superintendent of Police who had been giving evidence a few weeks ago, and continued on Tuesday, returned to complete his cross-examination. That officer had been called in relation to his role in the investigation, which included assisting with interviewing the three accused and overseeing aspects of the inquiry.
On Tuesday, Wendel Alexander, counsel for Harrigan, began by questioning the officer about statements recorded from the driver, the Crown’s key witness. The officer confirmed he had taken both a witness statement and a caution statement from the driver but maintained the driver was treated as a person of interest rather than as a suspect. Alexander asked whether a caution is typically given to a suspect, and the officer said no, maintaining that the driver was not a suspect at the time. He acknowledged, however, that a senior sergeant later interviewed the driver as a suspect, and confirmed this had been sanctioned by him. The officer said he was aware the driver had visited the area where Christian lived on multiple occasions before the murder, and confirmed that a statement had been taken from a person who had been exercising in that area at the relevant time.
Yesterday, Sherfield Bowen, counsel for Thomas, pressed the officer further on the driver’s position in the investigation. The officer acknowledged he had become aware that the driver had been seen visiting the area where Christian lived before the murder, and agreed this seemed suspicious to him, yet maintained the driver was never treated as a suspect, only a person of interest. When Bowen noted that the driver had returned his rented car immediately after the killing, the officer said he had noted this and questioned the driver about it, but acknowledged he had not recorded that exchange in his statement, saying he does not write down everything he thinks or asks. He said he was not aware the driver’s brother had been searched.
When Bowen asked whether someone had been directing who should and should not be charged in the matter, the officer initially indicated yes, before clarifying that there had never been a specific order not to touch anyone. He confirmed he had no success in locating the firearm belonging to Christian. He also confirmed he had not sought arrest warrants for two other individuals whose names were raised by the defence in connection with the matter.
Michael Archibald, counsel for Bully, then turned to a damaged digital video recorder found in the truck at Cassada Gardens. The officer confirmed attempts had been made to retrieve its contents but the device was too damaged for anything to be recovered. He acknowledged no report was produced in relation to this, that he had not sought to send the device to its manufacturer for assistance, and that while there had been consultations with the FBI, they were unable to assist with the DVR. When Archibald suggested the DVR could have contained footage of four men jumping the fence of the deceased’s home rather than three, the officer said no.
Archibald also noted that the officer’s statement made no reference to what was done with the DVR or a laptop after they were recovered from Christian’s truck, and suggested this was important for establishing chain of custody. The officer said this was not necessarily so. He confirmed his statement contained no reference to the driver being asked to buy petrol and destroy items at Perry Bay, and no reference to the driver indicating that items linked to the murder were located there. He also acknowledged the items at Perry Bay had been found before the driver’s statement was taken, and that he had not asked the driver about them at that time.
In re-examination by the Director of Public Prosecutions, the officer confirmed he had given the order to charge the three accused and clarified that a person of interest can become a suspect over the course of an investigation.
The jury then submitted questions of their own. The officer confirmed the driver was never asked what happened to the murder weapon. When asked how the investigation arrived at the conclusion that three people rather than four were involved, the officer said the driver was the sole source of that information, given that the DVR had been destroyed. The defence had earlier in the trial raised the account given by Christian’s mother, who said in her statement that she saw four men.
The driver’s status throughout the investigation has been among the issues examined during the trial. It emerged during earlier proceedings that he had been passing information to police in the weeks before Christian was killed and that at least one officer had been made aware that a murder was being planned. Despite this, no protective measures were taken and Christian was not placed in protective custody. It also emerged that the driver had met with a politician and senior officers in connection with the matter before the three accused were arrested, a detail an officer who interviewed the driver confirmed he heard directly from the driver during a formal interview.
With the Assistant Superintendent’s evidence concluded, the prosecution called the female sergeant who served as lead investigator in the case.
In her examination in chief, she told the court that on the day of the killing she was informed of a homicide in Thibou’s and went to the scene where she noted her observations. The following day she went to Cassada Gardens, where a search was conducted and a number of items were recovered, including a hoodie, a hat, and documents.
She told the court she subsequently interviewed Wayne Thomas, Lasean Bully and Saleim Harrigan on separate occasions. Interviews conducted by other officers were also handed over to her. Items were shown to the accused during those sessions. In April 2021, she formally charged the three men.
The sergeant said she received phone analysis from Harrigan’s device as well as DNA results. She detailed the items found in Christian’s truck, among them a laptop on the front passenger seat, documents, two cardboard boxes, Lysol spray, a bottle of Oasis water, a tin of dog food, a face mask and keys. She said the laptop remains at her office and that no analysis has been carried out on it. A damaged DVR was also recovered from the truck, and she confirmed that attempts to retrieve anything from it were unsuccessful.
The sergeant also told the court that a witness came forward who said that while she was near a pond in the Royal Gardens area, she observed a white RAV4 travelling at high speed from east to west in the direction of Cedar Grove.
The prosecution’s broader case has included testimony from the driver, who told the court he watched the three accused force Christian at gunpoint from his McKinnons home and into a vehicle, followed them to Thibou’s and later came upon Christian’s body on the dirt road. In addition, the Crown presented phone tracking and DNA analysis presented by FBI experts.
Christian’s mother had described watching masked men in military camouflage force her son from his home at gunpoint. A senior Defence Force officer confirmed that a genuine Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force uniform recovered at the scene could not have been purchased by any member of the public.
The lead investigator’s evidence will continue on Thursday. Once the prosecution formally closes its case, the defence will begin presenting its own.
The Crown is led by Director of Public Prosecutions Clement Joseph and Crown Counsel Curtis Cornelius. Bully is represented by Michael Archibald, Thomas by Sherfield Bowen, and Harrigan by Wendel Alexander.
