KATHY PYKE, Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, has asked the jury to find the three accused guilty of the murder of attorney-at-law Shirley Playfair.
Ms. Pyke, addressing the 12-member jury consisting of nine women and three men, told them that they should decide the verdict solely on the evidence they heard in court. "Your conclusion is one you have to arrive at bearing in mind all the issues in the case," Ms. Pyke told the jury. She also told them that their decision must be one made without fear or favour and they must be bold.
Ms. Playfair was in her office at Seymour Park, 2 Seymour Avenue, Kingston 10, on April 13, 2000, when two men went there and slashed her throat. Ramone Drysdale, 26, also called 'Fudgie', of Metcalfe Road, Kingston 13; Ashley Ricketts, 50, taxi driver, of 44A Maxfield Avenue, Kingston 13; and Annette Livingston, 42, of Buff Bay, Portland, have been on trial since March 17 for the murder. Livingston was employed to Mrs. Playfair for 17 years up to the time she was murdered.
Dwayne 'Amin' Williams was also charged with the murder but he escaped from custody on April 22 last year.
The three accused have said in their defence that they had nothing to do with the murder.
Ms. Pyke said the Crown had proved its case against all three accused and reminded the jury that Drysdale was held with a 'ratchet' knife which had Mrs. Playfair's blood on it. She also pointed out that the man who was with Drysdale also had Mrs. Playfair's blood on his clothes as well as on his knife. She said that it was not a coincidence that the two ratchet knives had Mrs. Playfair's blood on them. She reminded the jury that Drysdale and Williams were identified by witnesses when they were put on identification parades.
"The only conclusion is that Drysdale was one of the men who attacked Mrs. Playfair," she said. Ms. Pyke said Ricketts was pretending to be "just a taxi driver" but the Crown was saying he provided transportation for Drysdale, who was one of the hit men. She asked the jury to find that Ricketts was the getaway driver.
Ms. Pyke said the jury should come to the decision that Livingston was the inside person or the contact person who assisted the men in committing the crime. "We have a classic case of common design and, therefore, all three accused are liable according to law," Ms. Pyke said.
The trial continues today before Justice Kay Beckford and the jury in the Home Circuit Court.
