Anyone who thinks dead men, or women, tell no tales is dead wrong. Despite the gun slaying of Valerie Walker, the sole eyewitness to the murder of her son, Ryan Dacres, her sworn statement to the police - supported by other evidence - was enough to convict the killer.

A 12-member jury retired for more than an hour last Friday and found Mohinder Singh, a 23-year-old labourer of Greenwich Town, Kingston, guilty in the Home Circuit Court.

Dacres, otherwise called 'Billy', of Greenwich Town, was shot dead there on June 26, 2003.

Sentencing friday

Justice Donald McIntosh has put off sentencing until Friday.

The Crown, which was represented by attorney-at-law Kathy Pyke and John Tyme, assistant director of public prosecutions, tendered the statement of the deceased witness under Section 31 (D) of the Evidence Act. The act makes provision for the statements of a deceased person to be admitted into evidence.

Walker's statement, given to the police shortly after her son was gunned down, related that she saw the accused and another man firing shots at her son on June 26, 2003. She said she first heard gunshots and saw when her son ran and fell in front of her shop.

She had said the accused, whom she knew prior to the incident, and an accomplice approached her fallen son and continued shooting him. The men reportedly fired at the witness but she was not injured.

Backed by evidence

Walker had said that her son cried, "Mama, mama, mi foot, mi foot!" Her statement was backed up by medical and ballistics evidence, which indicated that two weapons were used in the gun attack.

Walker was shot and killed in September 2004.

A policeman testified that Singh was held in 2007. When Singh was cautioned, he denied committing the offence. The policeman said Singh remarked that they were going on like "Billy did not kill people too".

Singh said in an unsworn statement from the dock that he knew nothing about the murder and was not in the area when it happened.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com