THE No 1 Home Circuit Court was the scene of tactical warfare when Justice Lincoln Robinson and attorney Anthony Spaulding, later QC (both now deceased), locked horns during the 1970 murder trial of Keith Clarke, a 26-year-old labourer of Thompson Pen, St Catherine.

Clarke was alleged by the prosecution to have gone on a shooting spree in upper St Andrew on the night of March 31, 1969, killing businessman and sportsman, Francis X DaCosta as he and his wife watched television in their living room. DaCosta’s wife was battered by the prowler and later hospitalised. The home was also robbed of cash.

On Monday, May 26, 1969, Julius Walenta, industrial chemist and businessman of Stony Hill, was shot and later died in the University Hospital. The late Morris Cargill, journalist, solicitor, radio commentator, and Gleaner columnist was also shot during the same period. One bullet hit him on the left hand and the other, his buttocks. Cargill was not seriously wounded.

Clarke’s six-week trial was marked by several verbal clashes between the trial judge and defence counsel Spaulding, who was supported by Patrick Atkinson (now Attorney General and QC). Associated with Anthony Spaulding and Patrick Atkinson for the defence, was attorney Peter Rickards. Representing the prosecution were Crown Counsel Ivan Farquharson, (later Supreme Court judge now deceased) and Acting Crown Counsel Ruby Walcott (later Senior Resident Magistrate, Spanish Town).

The late Detective Sergeant Sylvester Tulloch of the Constant Spring Police Station, who arrested and charged Clarke with DaCosta’s murder, testified that on the day in question, he was at a home in Stony Hill known as Round the Bend. He heard what sounded like gunshots coming from the direction of DaCosta’s home and went to investigate. He saw DaCosta’s body on the floor. Tulloch said he left shortly after and went along Stony Hill Road in the vicinity of Montgomery Road.

But Defence Counsel Atkinson charged that the evidence given by Tulloch was entirely new and the defence had been taken by surprise. Farquharson, for the Crown, responded that he did not propose to lead any new evidence other than what was in the deposition. Lead Counsel Spaulding made the observation that what the sergeant had said was not in the deposition and it was improper for Crown Counsel to say he was not leading anything that was not in the deposition.

Justice Robinson interjected that the case would proceed more smoothly if the lawyers were a little more gentlemanly, sticking to the rules and principles that govern the administration of justice in Jamaica.

When Spaulding sought to address the court on the grounds that, from what the judge had said, it seemed as if his (Spaulding’s) remark had been misunderstood; Robinson stopped him.

Spaulding attempted to say something further and was again stopped in his tracks by the judge who said: “I do not wish to hear anything more about this matter.”

Continuing his evidence, Tulloch said he went to Red Gal Ring in the vicinity of Stony Hill Road and Montgomery Road where he saw Constables Ricketts and Henry holding the accused. They were about to enter a Land Rover police vehicle which headed in the direction of Constant Spring shortly after Tulloch’s arrival.

Tulloch said he returned to DaCosta’s residence and saw Dr Garcia examining DaCosta’s body; which was turned over on the doctor’s instructions. At that stage, he saw a .32-calibre bullet which Dr Garcia picked up and handed to Senior Superintendent Neville Ernandez (later Deputy Commissioner, deceased) who, in turn, handed the bullet to the cop.

According to Tulloch, an ashtray, which the doctor picked up off the floor, had been covering another .32-calibre bullet. This bullet was also handed to Tulloch who subsequently arrested Clarke for the alleged murder of DaCosta.

Tulloch told the court that about 8:40 am on April 1, at the Constant Spring Police Station, himself, Acting Corporal Martin and Suprintendent Reuben Robertson (later Deputy Commissioner of Police, now deceased) accompanied him to Clarke’s cell.

As Clarke had said he could not write, he consented to dictate his statement and let Robertson write it down for him. The accused made his mark — an ‘X’ which was witnessed by Justice of the Peace Isaacs, who was later cross-examined at length by Spaulding and Atkinson.

Detective Corporal Stanley Hohn (later Detective Sergeant, Ret’d) of the Constant Spring Police Station, testified that about 11:50 pm on March 31, 1969, he was at the station and saw Constable Ricketts with Keith Clarke. Ricketts handed Hohn a .32 revolver loaded with six rounds of live ammunition; the magazine of an automatic pistol with eight rounds of live ammunition; one Gent’s Mido wristwatch; a tape marked British-American; two red ballpoint pens; and one pair of “brown-looking” socks. Hohn said he placed the articles in envelopes, which he marked.

That same night, Hohn said, he saw Constable Gordon at the station. In the presence of the accused Clarke, he related how Gordon handed him a P-38 automatic pistol which was without a magazine.

Hohn said Gordon spoke to him and then the accused, Keith Clarke, said something. No one induced Clarke to speak nor menaced, nor threatened him in any way to make him speak, and no promise was made to him.

On the witness stand, Hohn was asked to state what Gordon had said to him, but before he could reply, Atkinson, took objection. He referred the court to page 61 of the deposition and submitted that that bit of evidence was merely making doubly inadmissible, evidence which the judge had ruled earlier as inadmissible.

After hearing submissions from both sides, the judge ruled the evidence admissible and the witness was allowed to answer the question. Hohn told the court that Gordon had said: “See the gun that Clarke say him hide in the bushes up the road there,” and Clarke had responded, ‘Yes, sir, this is it’.”

According to Hohn, he fitted the magazine into the pistol then pulled them apart and placed the pistol separately from the magazine into an envelope and labelled them accordingly. On April 1, he handed over the exhibits to Tulloch at the CID office. Tulloch, the witness recalled, handed him a shirt and a pair of Hush Puppies (shoes) which the accused had been wearing and those items were placed in envelopes, labelled and handed back to Tulloch.

Early that same morning, Hohn said that Tulloch had handed him certain exhibits ,including two bullets which he took to the Ballistics Office at Kingston Gardens, and handed them to Detective Sergeant Wray (later Asst Commissioner of Police, ret’d). On the following day, Hohn said he took certain items to the Police Forensic Laboratory and he handed these to Dr Noel March.

Hohn identified the pistol in court, the serial number of which was 99271. He said he subsequently received the exhibits back from Dr March and made sealed parcels of them.

Constable Dolphi Gordon, attached to the Elletson Road Police Station, testified that while on duty on March 31, he received a report about 11:00 pm and went to Red Gal Ring on Stony Hill Road. He saw Clarke being held by Constable Ricketts, who said Clarke had told him he threw a gun in the bushes. They searched and he found a .38 automatic pistol which he took to the Constant Spring Police Station and gave to Corporal Hohn.

Acting Corporal Winston Henry, attached to Mobile Reserve, Harmon Barracks, testified that, along with other policemen, he set up a checkpoint at Red Gal Ring. As a result of what a JOS bus driver told him, they went to Stony Hill Road and came upon Clarke walking down the road wearing a black felt hat, white shirt and dark pants.

Henry said Ricketts held Clarke, who was searched and a revolver, ballpoint pens, a British American tape and other items taken from him. The watch and shoes Clarke was wearing had fresh blood stains on them. Clarke was later taken to the police station.

Assistant Superintendent Reuben Robertson who was in charge of the police Flying Squad, said that he spoke to Clarke in his cell at Constant Spring Police Station on April 1, about 8:40 am. He testified that Clarke told him: “My mind tell me to tell you everything about the shooting last night.”

Robertson said he locked the cells and telephoned Isaacs Alberts, JP, who bore witness as he took a voluntary statement from Clarke. As a result of what Clarke said in the statement, he went to Stony Hill to a house called ‘Round the Bend’ and searched for a ladies handbag. Along a wall he saw the opened handbag which contained various items. These were later identified by Helen DaCosta as belonging to her.

Senior Superintendent Ernandez testified that he had found Francis DaCosta lying face down and apparently dead on his living room floor and had sent DaCosta’s wife off to hospital.

He noticed glass splinters on the couch and an empty black revolver holster. Near to a room which ajoins the bathroom he saw a bullet on the floor and covered it with an ashtray. He checked the entire house and, at the burglar bars on the bathroom window, observed an opening large enough to admit the body of a man. He also saw reddish foot marks on the edge of the enamel bath.

Dr Wykeham Garcia, registered medical practitioner and medical officer for upper St Andrew, told the court that he went to DaCosta’s home, examined his body and found him to be dead. There was a pool of blood around the body. On April 1 about 2:00 pm he performed a post-mortem and found four bullet wounds and a number of abrasions. In his opinion, death was caused by lethal exsanguination due to a bullet wound which opened DaCosta’s aorta and right auricle, and other bullet wounds.

Constable Adrian Ricketts, stationed at Mobile Reserve, Harmon Barracks, testified that on March 31, travelling with a patrol to Stony Hill, he saw the accused Clarke walking towards Red Gal Ring, swung the vehicle over to where the accused was, got out, identified himself and held the accused.

He searched him and took an automatic pistol magazine with four cartridges from his trouser pocket. From his waist he took a .32 revolver with six live cartridges. From his left hip pocket he took a black change purse and one British-American tape. In his left shirt pocket he found two ballpoint pens.

He said he took a wristwatch from Clarke that had bloodstains on it. Bloodstains were also on Clarke’s shoes. Clarke told him he had a pistol hidden in the bushes up the road and they went to the spot which Clarke pointed out. Some policemen were left there.

He then took Clarke to the Constant Spring Police Station and handed him over, along with the exhibits, to Corporal Hohn.

Cross-examined by Patrick Atkinson, Ricketts said he had pushed Clarke into the Land Rover, because he had failed to enter the vehicle freely. He denied ‘gun-butting’ Clarke on the head, though he admitted that he had a gun in his hand when the accused was going into the vehicle. He told defence counsel that the first time he noticed that the accused was bleeding was while on the way to the Constant Spring Police Station.

At the close of the prosecution’s case, Clarke, speaking from the prisoners’ dock, declared his innocence and claimed he was beaten by the police and forced to sign a document.

Four witnesses were called by the defence, chief among them, Dr Frank Knight, a lecturer in the Department of Pyschiatry, University of the West Indies.

Knight testified that after examining Clarke, he came to the conclusion that he was mentally, a very abnormal individual. Witness told the court that if Clarke committed an act of violence, then he believed that Clarke’s sense of responsibility would be diminished and for that reason, in his opinion, Clarke “is at the mercy of his constitutional inborn temperament”.

People of Clarke’s temperament, Knight said, were well known by psychiatrists to be impulsive. Asked if he meant by that, lacking in restraint, the witness said yes. The doctor said, in his opinion, the abnormality had existed all of Clarke’s life.

Further questioned, it was the doctor’s testimony that in his experience the accused was a psychopath, stressing that the term was a very vague and imprecise one. Additionally he thought that it was very unlikely that Clarke’s abnormality of mind could be altered, except, perhaps, after the passage of 20-30 years hence.

Close to the end of the evidence-taking and during the cross-examination of Dr Knight by Crown Counsel Farquharson, Spaulding, in making a submission to the judge, put one foot up on his bench and was chided by the judge for it.

Spaulding took his foot down but simultaneously sprang up on the bench with both feet, tugging on a fan cord overhead in an effort to turn it on (courtrooms were not airconditioned then). He took his time while the Judge waited patiently. The jury also waited. So did the prosecutors and those watching the proceedings as Spaulding tugged repeatedly at the cord.

Justice Robinson: Mr Spaulding, you are standing on the edge of a precipice!

Spaulding: I am not so aware, Mi Lord.

Justice Robinson: You are not? If I were you, I wouldn’t try that again. I would hate to have to call upon counsel to show cause.

Spaulding: Very well, Mi Lord (jumping down from the bench).

The trial proceeded for the rest of the day without further incident.

At the end of the case, the jury failed to agree and the judge ordered that Clarke should stand trial de novo (anew) and he was taken to the General Penitentiary to await this retrial.

With the retrial for murder pending, Clarke still had other charges to face: the murder of industrial chemist, Walenta; shooting Morris Cargill; the rape of a helper; robbery with aggravation, and larceny from the dwelling of a number of householders in the Stony Hill area.

But in the early morning of May 4,1970, Clarke was shot dead by a warder, allegedly after it was discovered that he had succeeded in digging his way out of his cell and was attempting to climb the eastern wall of the prison. It was reported that when challenged by a patrolling sentry, he advanced on the guard with an instrument in his hand and was shot.

His death closed the chapter to this saga.

NEXT WEEK: Richard Mills: it was

murder for love

Sybil E Hibbert is a veteran journalist

and retired court reporting specialist. She is also the wife of Retired ACP

Isadore ‘Dick’ Hibbert, rated among the top Jamaican detectives of his time.

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