A witness told the Supreme Court he saw Daemon Bell holding a wooden bat shortly before he was struck in the face with a hoe.

David Cumberbatch told the court that Mr Bell got out of his car with the weapon after the defendant, Ajamu Hollis, approached him with the gardening tool shouting threats towards a third man, Dion Ball Jr.

Mr Cumberbatch said that Mr Bell held the bat to his side as Mr Hollis came towards him and struck him in the face with the hoe.

“I saw one strike,” he said. “I was in shock and I looked away. When I looked back, there was another strike. I couldn’t see where he hit him or if he missed, but I know it was two strikes.

“He struck him so hard, he fell like a dead tree.”

Mr Cumberbatch told the court that after the second blow, he and Mr Ball followed Mr Hollis up the hill and that he grabbed the defendant’s motorcycle to prevent him from riding away from the area.

Under cross-examination by Charles Richardson, counsel for Mr Hollis, the witness accepted that the second swing and his decision to move the defendant’s motorcycle were not included in his police statement.

Mr Cumberbatch said that he had told police those details and could not speak to why they were not included.

“There are things that I said that are not here,” he said.

Mr Cumberbatch strongly disputed a suggestion by Mr Richardson that he had himself brandished a knife during the incident.

“That didn’t happen. That’s a lie. A bald-faced lie,” he said.

He also denied that he had himself been convicted for making threats in a 2018 incident, stating that he was released after three months on remand, despite Mr Richardson stating that he was convicted and sentenced to time already served.

Mr Hollis has denied killing Mr Bell, a 49-year-old corrections officer, at Shelly Bay Park in Hamilton Parish on February 2, 2022.

Prosecutors say that Mr Bell was struck in the face with a gardening hoe after he was caught in the middle of an argument between Mr Ball and Mr Hollis.

Mr Bell was taken to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital but later died of his injuries.

Mr Cumberbatch told the court that he arrived in the area at around 2.45pm. He said that while he was still in his van, he was approached by the defendant, who he did not know, who tried to start a conversation.

He told the court that Mr Ball and others were nearby talking about sports but he heard the conversation become more argumentative after the defendant got involved.

Mr Cumberbatch said that while Mr Ball seemed to try to calm the defendant, the defendant opened up the seat of his bike and began to throw items at him.

He told the court Mr Hollis eventually put the vehicle’s seat back down and rode away from the area, stating that he would be back.

Mr Cumberbatch said Mr Hollis returned a few minutes later with a hoe, which he waived over his head shouting threats at Mr Ball.

At that time, he said Mr Bell got out of his car and came to the same side as Mr Ball.

“He asked the aggressor to please move away from his car, if he damaged it he would have to pay for it,” Mr Cumberbatch said.

“When Mr Bell got out of the car and came around to the side of Mr Ball, I believe he had a billy club in his hand. He had it beside him. The whole time he kept the club beside him.”

On cross-examination, Mr Cumberbatch admitted that he did not mention the club during his first interview with police, but did tell police during an interview earlier this year.

“I just said what I recalled,” he said. “Something I didn’t remember at the time.”

The court also heard evidence from Nakia Virgil, who said that she was involved in a conversation at Shelly Bay Field when she saw a paint brush fly past her.

“I got up to see who was throwing things and when I got up that’s when a spanner or some sort of tool came, so I ducked,” she said.

As she went to the other side of Mr Bell’s car to get out of the way, she said Mr Bell got out of the car and tried to “straighten the situation out”.

Ms Virgil said she saw Mr Bell approach Mr Hollis, referred to by her as “Pumpkin”, but she did not know what was said between them.

She told the court that Mr Hollis left after saying that he would come back.

“I really wasn’t paying him no mind. I didn’t think he was coming back,” she said.

Ms Virgil said Mr Hollis returned a few minutes later and, when he approached the bottom of the hill, she saw that he had a hoe in his hands.

She said Mr Bell started to approach Mr Hollis when he was struck, first on the forehead and a second time in his face.

Ms Virgil said that she called 911 and attempted to tend to Mr Bell’s injuries by wrapping his head in a towel, but did not pay attention to the movements of Mr Hollis or Mr Ball.

Under cross-examination, Ms Virgil said that she had not seen anyone with a wooden bat or a knife on the day of the altercation.

The trial continues.

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