Witness describes shooting for jury
The man who gunned down a 16-year-old outside his home had covered his face with a black mask, a teenage witness told the Supreme Court.The 15-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was giving evidence at the trial of Royunde Stevens Cyrus, who denies attempting to murder Jahrockia Smith-Hassell on the night of March 25.Mr Smith-Hassell was shot three times as he stood around with friends on Rambling Lane, Pembroke. In earlier testimony, the victim has told the jury he saw the shooter’s face.However, under questioning from the defendant’s lawyer Shade Subair, yesterday’s witness agreed the shooter had a full mask on.“It was a black mask,” the witness told the jury, adding that he saw no part of the man’s face, and that the lighting on Rambling Lane was poor.The schoolboy, who said he had known the victim all his life, told the court that dropping around to the house where Mr Smith-Hassell lived with his mother was “a regular date”.Toward 10.45pm that night, he said, he and his older brother were discussing going back home. The witness said a lone man in a hooded jacket walked up from the Parson’s Road direction, with his hands in his jacket pockets.“He passed [Jahrockia] a little bit. The guy pulled his hands out. Then he shot him.”Asked what happened next, the witness replied: “I ran.”The shooter was described as tall, and wearing a blue jacket.Asked how he felt about coming to court, the witness said: “It wasn’t troubling. It’s just another day.”The witness’s older brother, who is now 17, also testified, telling the court he was there only because he had been told he’d get locked up if he didn’t appear.“I didn’t want to come,” he said, asking Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons: “How much time would I have gotten if I hadn’t come?”He said he and his brother had been standing in Rambling Lane with the victim, an unnamed friend of the victim’s, and Dandre Butler, a mutual acquaintance. He told the court he was not witness to the shooting itself.“Next thing I heard was when Jahrockia got shot. I heard the shots and I ran. When you hear shots, you’re not going to look around. I didn’t see nothing.”The court heard the witness jumped into another lane on his hands and knees.“The only person I saw was my little brother,” he said. “That’s the only person I was worried about.”Asked if the victim had appeared “high”, the witness told the court Mr Smith-Hassell appeared to be drunk.The case continues.