A scene of crime investigator and photographer — a detective corporal — was on Tuesday unable to recall certain details in relation to his photographing of evidence following the shooting death of accountant Keith Clarke on May 27, 2010.

Three Jamaica Defence Force soldiers — Lance corporals Greg Tingling and Odel Buckley, and Private Arnold Henry — are on trial in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston for murder in relation to the shooting death of the accountant.

Clarke was killed inside his master bedroom during a police-military operation aimed at nabbing then fugitive Christopher “Dudus” Coke, who was wanted in the United States on drugs and weapons charges. It is alleged that Coke and seven to eight of his heavily armed cronies were camping out in the basement of Clarke’s home at 18 Kirkland Close in Red Hills, St Andrew which led the security forces to swoop down on the location.

In relation to a jacket that was found on a shelf in the basement of Clarke’s home, the detective said, under cross-examination by Valerie Neita-Robertson, KC, “I cannot recall” after the senior attorney asked him why he had not swabbed the jacket for DNA evidence.

In photographs of the scene that were shown to the seven-member jury, there were Red Stripe beer bottles sitting around inside the room. Neita-Robertson also quizzed the detective on whether he had swabbed the bottles for fingerprints and DNA evidence. In response, the detective corporal said his former supervisor, Detective Inspector Victor Mendez, who is now deceased, was responsible for swabbing the bottles for fingerprints. The detective corporal, who is the third witness in the trial, said he was given the duty of swabbing the bottles for DNA.

Neita-Robertson at one point shifted the detective’s focus to the master bedroom of the house where Clarke was shot more than 20 times, including in the back.

During the operation by the security forces, Clarke was said to have climbed on top of the closet in his room and hid himself inside a cupboard, while members of the military broke down the door to gain entry. It was after they gained entry into the room that Clarke, who was a licensed firearm holder, was shot dead. It is not clear at what point exactly Clarke started to receive the bullets, whether it was while he was in the cupboard or when he started to climb down with his back turned. His widow Dr Claudette Clarke and their daughter Britney Clarke have insisted that the accountant was shot as he attempted to come down from the cupboard.

They said that he was unarmed.

Neita-Robertson had also asked the detective on Tuesday to tell the court why he had not photographed the space between the roof of the room and the cupboard where Clarke was said to have hidden.

With a confident smile, the detective told the senior attorney that he could not recall those details.

“Did you photograph the inside of the cupboards at each level?” Neita-Robertson asked.

“Yes ma’am,” the detective responded.

Neita-Robertson told him that if he in fact took those photographs, the defence team representing the soldiers was not in possession of them.

“Did you acces the top and take photographs of what was in there, like what you did with other photographs?” she asked.

“I cannot recall,” the policeman said.

The attorney then probed to further to find out whether the photographs of what was on top of the closet and cupboard were important.

To that question, the detective replied. “I cannot recall ma’am”.

“I am suggesting to you that you didn’t,” Neita-Robertson said; however, the detective insisted that he couldn’t recall.

Neita-Robertson asked the witness if he would agree that photographs of what was up there were important, suggesting to him that his job had been incomplete.

But the detective said, “I cannot speak to that and I cannot recall, ma’am. I don’t agree that my job was incomplete. I just cannot recall if I photographed it.”

In disbelief, Neita-Robertson said, “You cannot recall? So what are we supposed to do if you cannot recall? Did you refresh your memory before you came to give evidence?”

The detective said he refreshed his memory but admitted that he did not look at the photographs after capturing them.

Neita-Robertson continued: “So what did you refresh your memory from?”

The detective said he refreshed his memory from his statements.

“Sir, with respect, there are no photographs attached to your statements from which you can refresh your memory. You would have looked at the CD you prepared, downloaded the photographs from the camera and handed over to the investigating officer. Do you agree with me?”

The detective corporal agreed, before explaining to the jury that he only took photographs of what he had been instructed to by his now-deceased supervisor, Detective Inspector Mendez.

“When acting under the instructions of a senior supervisor, you work as instructed, so, no, ma’am, I did not use any initiative while taking the photographs,” he said.

The trial continues today when the witness will face cross-examination by Peter Champagnie, KC, who is representing Lance Corporal Buckley.