By Latrishka Thomas
The prosecution called its first two witnesses, yesterday, in the trial of Prince Charming Graham who is accused of murdering Jalon “Shantii Town” Thompson in July 2017.
The tragedy occurred at the Jam Dung Night Club on Lower Nevis Street when the deceased’s girlfriend got into an altercation with the defendant, who was a Deejay (DJ) at the club.
In an attempt to defend his girlfriend, 26-year-old Thompson is said to have gotten into a brawl with Graham, who was 28 years old at the time, which resulted in Thompson being stabbed in his chest.
He was pronounced dead at the Mount St. John’s Medical Centre shortly after.
The first witness called to the stand was Thompson’s girlfriend, who testified to being at the adult nightclub with the deceased on the night of July 5th 2017 and the morning of July 6th 2017.
She said that upon returning from the bathroom, she met Thompson and Graham talking and when she sat down in front of her boyfriend her feet happened to touch the accused.
According to her, she apologised immediately but the Gray’s Farm resident still slapped her on the right side of her face.
She then went to the back of the club and was about to call a taxi when her boyfriend came to her and asked her a question, the specifics of which she did not recall.
As she recounted, Thompson then walked away and three minutes later the music in the club stopped and she heard screams. When she looked around, she saw her boyfriend lying on the floor in a pool of blood.
During his cross examination of the witness, Graham’s lawyer, Sherfield Bowen inquired of the witness’s relationship with the defendant, and she admitted to having one sexual encounter with him in the past and having seen him the day prior to the incident on Market Street.
She said they got into an argument and he asked her not to interfere with him whenever she sees him again.
The second witness, an informal employee from the nightclub and friend of the deceased’s family, said she witnessed the entire ordeal.
She said that Graham, who she knew was also a DJ at clubs such as G-Spot and Wendy’s, did in fact slap Thompson’s girlfriend without him noticing.
According to her, when the deceased found out, he asked the DJ to meet him outside.
Graham then stood at the door of the club while the deceased waited for him on the steps where he said to him, “so your mom teach you to hit woman.”
The accused explicitly asked him to come out of his face and when he didn’t, he shoved him in his face and was shoved back by his chest.
The back and forth then resulted in both men tumbling down the steps, the witness continued.
Thompson got on top of Graham and held him by his locks, while hitting his head into the pavement.
But when Graham was able to gain the advantage by getting on top of Thompson, he pulled out a weapon and stabbed Thompson in his chest and ran away.
The witness said she did know where the weapon came from.
She said that when Thompson tried to walk and speak to his older brother, he collapsed.
Graham’s lawyer, in his cross-examination of this witness questioned her role in the operations of the nightclub and she said she was responsible to cheering up the strippers.
He also imputed that the witness had asked the accused what had happened when they met up at the hospital, but she quickly corrected him saying that she had asked him what happened to his hand which was wrapped in a red shirt.
Bowen then put it to the witness that she had seen his client being stabbed.
The nightclub where the fatality occurred was owned and operated by the deceased’s mother, Cheryl Thompson, who blamed herself for the death of her son, an up and coming musician.
Some time after the incident, Cheryl Thompson revealed that the deceased, who resided in Orlando, Florida, had arrived in the country on June 28th for the Carnival festivities.
In fact, a few days prior to his demise, he performed in the quarter-finals for the Jumpy section and sang his song called ‘Mocker Jumby’ for the Groovy segment.
He died eight days into his summer vacation in Antigua and Barbuda.