By Latrishka Thomas
A police officer has introduced some important evidence to the court that is hearing the Bruce Greenaway murder trial in the form of video footage.
Police officer Jason Modeste and Antigua and Barbuda Defence Force soldiers Shakiel Thomas, Armal Warner and Aliyah Martin are on trial for strangling the Falmouth father-of-two.
Greenaway’s body was found at Indian Creek on April 13 2020 – days after his family had reported him missing.
It is said that he was last seen alive with the defendants four days earlier.
On Wednesday, the court heard from Randolph Alexander, a computer networking engineer with over 20 years’ experience, who was contracted by the National Parks Authority from 2009 to install CCTV cameras around areas including Horsford Hill, Pigeon Point, Piccadilly, Falmouth main road, and English Harbour.
He was also responsible for maintaining the camera system and providing technical support.
Alexander told the court that he installed a total of 32 cameras that record in real time and those recordings are stored on servers in secure rooms.
He said he and one woman have full access to the servers while two other persons have limited access in the form of viewing privileges only.
The witness said that on April 14 2020 he met with the lead investigator in Greenaway’s case and reviewed footage from 1pm on April 9 to 3pm on April 13.
He said some videos showing the joint task force vehicle were extracted from the server, and some days after officers placed them on a flash drive.
The witness was questioned by defence lawyers about the footage, especially noting the fact that he stated that he wasn’t physically there when the police put the video onto a flash drive.
Now yesterday, cyber forensic specialist Owen Rigby shared that he met with Alexander on April 14, reviewed the footage and extracted it onto a flash drive on that very day.
Rigby said he also obtained camera footage from Bailey’s Supermarket on April 18 for the period 11.11am to 11.27 am and 1pm to around 1.30pm.
Then on April 21, the witness said he went to an apartment building where there was more video evidence.
He indicated that he placed all the videos on one flash drive but in different folders.
According to Rigby, the videos contained images of a maroon joint task force vehicle which the defendants used and he pieced them together “to show one continuous movement” of the truck.
His evidence was that the flash drive was sealed in an envelope which was signed and dated by him before being handed to the lead investigator.
He also told the court about a digital signature he placed on the files so that he could tell if they were tampered with.
But what Rigby said next piqued the interest of the courtroom of onlookers.
He said that in the morning footage from the supermarket he observed an individual who fits the description of Bruce Greenaway coming to the supermarket, standing in line and leaving afterwards.
Sometime after 1pm , the camera recorded the maroon truck passing the supermarket with an individual in the back resembling Greenaway.
From the apartment building’s camera, the truck was seen heading in a southerly direction on Dr Yele Akande Drive – the same direction one would take to get to where Greenaway’s body was found.
And a man who looked like the deceased was in the back of the truck in that video, the court heard.
The corporal also testified to seeing footage of the vehicle passing back without Greenaway.
The prosecution then attempted to tender this footage into evidence but the defence objected saying mainly that the authenticity of the footage has to be proven.
The Crown contends that they have been authenticated by the witness since he downloaded them and sealed and marked the storage device.
Justice Colin Williams will rule on this objection today before the trial continues.
There are four defence lawyers in the matter – Andrew O’Kola who represents Thomas, Sherfield Bowen for Warner, Wendel Robinson who represents Modeste, and Lawrence Daniels for Martin.
Former Director of Public Prosecutions in St Kitts and Nevis Valston Graham is the lead prosecutor in the high profile case and is assisted by Sean Nelson.
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