Defence queries crown evidence in murder case

(CNS): The defence attorney representing a 27-year-old West Bay man charged with the murder of Robert Mackford Bush questioned the source of the crown's evidence against his client. Nick Hoffman, representing Brian Borden, who was charged with murder earlier this month, asked the court Friday for further disclosure from the crown and in particular the circumstances under which a witness statement was given to police by a man who has now been convicted of armed bank robbery. Borden was originally arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of Bush in West Bay almost a year ago but was later released.

Hoffman said he needed to see more details on why the police now believed his client was the killer. Warning that there were also legal issues with the wording of the indictment against Borden, Hoffman said that if the crown intended to build its case on a statement that has “appeared out of the blue” from an alleged witness who has admitted his part in a bank robbery, it needed to re-word the indictment.

Hoffman said that all of the other statements he had received relating to his client were more than nine months old and appeared to have been taken at the time of the shooting, which, he noted, the crown did not think had mounted to a case against Borden. Therefore, he needed to know what it was about this latest statement that had led to his client being charged.

Asking for all relevant material pertinent to the case to be served as soon as possible, Hoffman requested an adjournment until 7 September. Borden was remanded in custody to HMP Northward.

The West Bay man is accused of being one of two gunmen that the police believe shot Bush in a gang-related killing in September last year. He was sitting in his vehicle at the junction of Capt Joe and Osbert Road and Birch Tree Hill, West Bay, when two gunmen reportedly opened fire. The killing triggered a spate of gang-related killings, in which Andrew Baptist, Preston Rivers and Jason Christian also lost their lives.

Keith Montague, who was with Christian when he was killed off Crewe Road, was also shot multiple times but survived after he flagged down a passing police car and was taken to hospital.