MARK Russell, the ex-policeman who is on trial for the murder of a teenage boy, yesterday denied killing the teen or having anything to do with his death and said it was more likely that the young man was killed by soldiers.

In fact, Russell said he is completely clueless as to how the teen died and insisted that the soldiers who had testified that they saw him place a gun in the teenager’s hand and shoot him had fabricated the story.

The 34-year-old ex-cop, who is being tried for the shooting death of 18-year-old Ravin Thompson on July 27, 2007, was giving an unsworn statement in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston after the prosecution closed its case.

According to the official police report, Thompson was shot during a shoot-out with gunmen and a joint police/military team outside his gate on Alexander Road in Whitfield Town, St Andrew.

Three soldiers testified during the trial that they saw Russell place a weapon in the hands of the injured teen on Darling Street and shooting him after he was initially shot on Alexander Road and was being transported to the Kingston Public Hospital. Two indicated that Russell had used the weapon of his now missing colleague, Morris Lee, while another said that the policeman used his own gun.

Russell, in a very lengthy statement yesterday, accused the soldiers of “twisting things”.

“I would never do something like that, that’s why they say I did it with two different guns.

“They make up that story with two different guns, they just want to add something to make their story sound better,” the ex-policeman insisted.

He said the story of the army men was not “logical” and also questioned why the soldiers hadn’t done something to stop that crime from happening.

“You don’t notice in this story none of them are heroes? What type of story is that?” Russell asked while facing the jury of five women and two men.

“No law or no policy can tell nobody that they witness a crime and don’t try and stop it, but then they run to camp and seek legal advice. Why would you need a lawyer unless you need help to get out of trouble?” Russell asked.

Continuing, he said he did not know the deceased teenager and had nothing to gain from killing him and was very familiar with his hometown, as he had been working there for two years, unlike the soldiers.

“These soldiers are not from around there; they travel from place to place; if anything it would be the soldiers who hurt the people,” Russell said.

According to the accused, he knows the case is a very serious matter and everyone is looking for a scapegoat but he had nothing to do with Thompson’s death.

Russell further told the court that on the day of the incident he and his colleague were detailed to work alongside the six soldiers to patrol the community, and his colleague had opted to travel in the first Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) vehicle while he travelled in the second.

He said after, they received information that men were seen with weapons on Alexander Road, but when he and his team arrived Thompson had already been shot.

Russell said he saw him with a single bullet wound to his chest and while he was not completely sure if there was a gunshot wound on his forearm, there was blood in that region and he was also bleeding from the mouth.

He also told the court that while transporting the injured teenager to the Kingston Public Hospital, the first JDF vehicle sped away leaving the one he was in behind.

Russell said while trying to catch up with the first vehicle he heard several explosions before his team caught up with the vehicle along Darling Street in downtown Kingston. He said when he got there he saw a group of soldiers to the left of the vehicle and his colleague Lee closer to him, while Thompson was crouched over in the JDF service vehicle with one of his feet dangling outside.

Russell said before they left for the hospital one of the soldiers from the second vehicle whispered something to the soldiers who were travelling with him, but he did not hear what was said.

On reaching the hospital, he said the soldier from the first vehicle, along with Lee, went to the police post to make a report that the teenager was killed during a shoot-out.

Russell also said that when Lee returned to the Hunt’s Bay Police Station to hand in his service weapon he reported that he had used it while handing it over with 30 rounds of ammunition.

The ex-policeman, before launching fully into his statement, said on the day of the incident he had a weird feeling about the day after looking at a new driver’s licence that he had just received with the date, 27.7.07 and had asked himself “What kind a sign this?”.

In addition, he said he had also arrived late for duty and had missed the prayer, which would usually be done by him or another officer and had said to himself that he had no protection for the day.

Meanwhile, a police officer who testified earlier in the day that several attempts to locate Lee and Russell were unsuccessful, under cross-examination admitted that during his investigation he had never visited the officers’ addresses or tried to reach them by telephone,

Further to that, Detective Sergeant Owen Grant told the court that he did not ask for any telephone number for the two policemen when he visited the Hunt’s Bay Police Station, where they were assigned, as it was the norm for the initial investigator to facilitate that.

He also told the court that when he visited the station a day after the incident he was told that they were “off duty”, and when he returned was told that they were on sick leave, and later learnt they were not on the island. Consequently, he never spoke to either of them.

Grant also testified that he visited Darling Street and found 5.56 calibre spent shells similar to those fired by M16 rifles and what appeared to be blood stains.

Russell had reportedly fled the country following the incident along with Lee, but was arrested in New York in 2015 and extradited to Jamaica. Lee is still at large.

Russell, during his unsworn statement yesterday, said no one had told him that he was a suspect or that he was under investigation and that he left the island to visit his sick grandmother as he had only three months remaining and had only travelled once before.

The trial continues today when both the prosecution and the defence will give their closing address.