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Casings from same gun

Posted on Sun, 09/05/2010 - 22:10

(CNS): An expert witness for the crown has said that the shell casings found at the scene where Omar Samuels was believed to have been shot came from the same gun. Allen Greenspan, a ballistic and firearms expert from Broward County, Florida, told the Grand Court on Friday that the shell casings sent to him from the scene for analysis were all fired from the same 40 calibre semi-automatic weapon. Giving his evidence at the trial of Brandon Leslie Ebanks, Osbourne Douglas and Patrick McField for the murder of Samuels, the expert also noted that the place where the casings were found would have been close to where the shooter was standing when the weapon was fired.

He said it was not possible to say exactly where the gunman would have been located when he shot Samuels as casings can eject some distance. When asked by defence counsel Nicholas Rhodes QC, representing Leslie-Ebanks, if the casings could have gone over the roof of a two storey building as they were ejected from the gun when it was fired, he said that was not possible.
 
The expert also confirmed that when a gun is fired it leaves residue and indicated that the shooter would need to be some distance away not to leave residue on the victim.
 
Greenspan was the crown’s second witness on Friday. The first was a representative from Cable & Wireless, who gave evidence on records from a cell phone which turned out to belong to Patrick McField.
 
The crown asked questions about how a mobile phone can be traced as a result of certain cell sites and it showed that between midnight and just after 1:00am on the morning of 5 July the phone was registering on cell sites in the central George Town area close to both McField’s home on Sheddon Road, as well as McField Square.
 
It also showed the phone was in the area of Randyke Gardens, where McField had told the police he was that night after going to Peppers night club to celebrate his birthday.
 
The questioning further revealed that McField’s phone was used frequently during the period examined. When asked by Trevor Burke QC, counsel for McField, if the list of 87 items represented over 80 separate calls or messages, indicating McField had the phone clamped to his ear a lot during that hour, the expert said that it was not 80 separate calls.
 
The C&W expert, who cannot be named, said he was unable to say exactly how many individual calls and messages the 87 events on the record sheet actually represented and he would have to calculate that. He explained that as a result of the various elements of a call an item on the record represented only a part of a phone call.
 
The murder trial continues this morning (Monday 6 September) at 10am in Grand Court One as the crown continues presenting its case against the three men.