Accused in fatal mini mart robbery ID’ed another man as shooter
– trial hears
Faisal Moore, who was implicated by a co-accused as the shooter in the death of Glen Xavier during a robbery, had told police that it was another man, whom he only identified as “Burnham,” who was responsible for the murder, according to a caution statement admitted into evidence at his trial yesterday.
Moore, Ray Yokum and Steffon Campbell are on trial before Justice Navindra Singh and a 12-member jury, at the High Court in Georgetown, for Xavier’s murder. The allegation against them is that on May 9, 2012, at the Cornbread Mini Mart at D’Urban Street, Georgetown, they murdered Xavier in the course or furtherance of a robbery. They have pleaded not guilty.
According to the statement that police say was given by Moore, also called “Hard Mouth,” he told Lance Corporal Rodrick Melville that on the night in question he was at an Albouystown game shop when he received a phone call from Yokum.
Moore, in the statement, said that Yokum informed him that there were two men with money at a shop close to where he (Yokum) lived and that he wanted him, (Moore), to get another person to rob the two men.
“I didn’t get another man fuh do de wuk,” the statement quoted Moore as saying.
Resultantly, the statement details Moore as explaining that Yokum, along with a boy he knows as “X,” drove and met him at the game shop, where a number of men had been liming on the corner.
Yokum, the statement said, called out to a person by the name of “Burnham,” who was also at the corner.
Moore, in the statement, said that Yokum, “shine he bout de wuk.”
Moore told police that Yokum directed him to collect a motorcycle, which was on the corner, and transport “Burnham” to rob the two men, which he did.
Moore, according to the statement, next told police that after he and “Burnham,” arrived at the shop where the two men were, the latter dismounted the bike and proceeded to rob their target.
According to the statement, before leaving, Moore said, “Burnham” fired shots in the shop “with a gun which he had fuh do de wuk.”
Moore, in the statement, said that thereafter he rode and went back to Albouystown, where Yokum and “X” were and once there “Burnham” related that he had fired the gun.
Moore, police said, also admitted that as far as he was aware at that point, the two men who were robbed were not dead. He later learned that one of them had died. “Duh is wah happen officer, me ain’t shoot them man. Is Burnham do the shooting,” Moore is quoted in the statement as saying.
The statement further details Moore as saying that they divided the close to $100,000 they had gotten from the robbery among themselves, with each getting some $20,000. After receiving his share, Moore, the court heard, went back to the game shop, before later going home.
Meanwhile, in a caution statement tendered into evidence, which Detective Sergeant Rodwell Sarrabo had previously read to the court, Campbell said that it was Moore who had fired shots.
The accused, from the statement, then went on to explain, that he did not know “Hard Mouth would have shoot the man.”
“I sorry fuh wah happen that the man get shoot.” “I din kill duh man, when Hard Mouth guh pon de wuk,” the statement details Campbell as saying.
In a caution statement, also admitted into evidence, which Sarrabo said he took from Yokum, this accused too said that he did not kill anyone, but only “link up de wuk.”
The court had heard from the statement of Yokum saying that his friend “X” had told him of the two men he wanted to rob, but he in turn informed “X,” “I don’t do crime right now.”
According to the statement, it was then that Yokum contacted “Hard Mouth,” and informed him about “de wuk,” after which “Hard Mouth,” and Burnham left to execute the robbery.
Yokum, the court had heard from the statement, told “Hard Mouth” and “Burnham,” to “do them thing properly.”
This accused is quoted in the statement as saying, “I didn’t kill them men. I link up Burnham and Hard Mouth with X, and they rob dem men, and it had to be dem kill them men. … I just link up de wuk.”
During cross-examination, defence attorneys Trenton Lake, Maxwell McKay and George Thomas, suggested to Melville and Sarrabo that their clients never gave the caution statements. The witnesses, however, remained adamant that the accused gave the statements to police.
Yokum is represented by attorneys Peter Hugh and Thomas. Campbell and Moore meanwhile, are represented by McKay and Lake, respectively.
The state’s case is being presented by prosecutors Siand Dhurjon and Tuanna Hardy.
The trial continues at 9 this morning.
Xavier, 26, of Harlem, West Coast Demerara was shot and killed after being robbed at the mini mart by men with handguns, who escaped with an undisclosed amount of cash on two Honda CG motorcycles. Xavier, who was shot in his chest and left hand, later succumbed to his injuries. He died from haemorrhage and shock due to gunshot injuries.
The family was not able to save anything. The man could not have estimated his losses but noted that his “house had every little thing.”
Up to yesterday afternoon, he was contemplating where he and his family would be spending the night.
The family is willing to accept any form of public assistance and can be contacted on 670-4966.