The mother and brother of murder victim Shae Hackett took the witness stand on Tuesday as the case against the men accused of his shooting death four years ago got underway.
Adrian Ryan Jones, of Enterprise Main Road, Christ Church, and Jamal Omar Anthony Maynard, of No. 21 St Paul’s Avenue, Bayville, St Michael, are charged with Hackett’s murder, which occurred on September 6, 2021. Hackett was shot and killed along St Paul’s Avenue, Bayville, St Michael. The men maintained their innocence when they were arraigned on Tuesday.
The 12-member jury and three alternates heard opening statements as Acting Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney began laying out the State’s case.
Hackett’s mother, Jackie Ellis, told the No. 3 Supreme Court that her son lived with his grandmother in Dunlow Lane his entire life. She said he called her that Monday morning. However, she received a telephone call from a cousin after 9 p.m., alerting her that something was wrong with Hackett.
“She was crying . . . . She said something happened to Shae . . . . I said, ‘What happen to Shae?’. She said, ‘I don’t know . . . just come’. I said, ‘Come where?’ She said, ‘Come in St Paul’s Avenue’,” Ellis recalled.
She told the court she then made her way to the area.
“I saw everybody waiting . . . but before that I got there, I had a feeling that he died.”
Questioned by Delaney, the witness said she did not see her son that night. “I saw Shae a Thursday. I went to the morgue [at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital] and identified his body there,” she testified.
Under cross-examination by Andrew Pilgrim, KC, who is representing Jones along with attorney Summer Hassell, Ellis refuted claims that Hackett was a “habitual” user of marijuana, even though it was contained in her statement to police.
“I would say yes, Shae smokes. I would not use the word habitual,” she said, adding that while her son used the substance, it was “not to get to the point that you can’t address him about anything and he still will be in his right mind . . . . You can have a normal conversation with him, he can still reason with you.”
Asked by Prilgrim whether Hackett would become “aggressive” when he smoked, Ellis replied, “No”.
There was no cross-examination by defence attorney Safiya Moore, who represents Maynard.
The deceased’s brother, Rachad White, also took the witness stand.
“There ain’t much I can tell because I wasn’t there,” he told the court. He said he found out about his brother around 10 o’clock that night via a phone call from his mother. “I went and get my mom and [we went] to the crime scene”. He then identified his brother to the police..
There was no cross-examination by any of the defence attorneys.
Police Constable Shanice Depradine, attached to the Forensic Scenes of Crime Unit, was the first witness to give evidence. The officer produced an album containing 42 photographs, which she took at the scene.
Justice Carlisle Greaves is presiding over the case, which will see over 20 witnesses giving evidence.
The trial continues on Wednesday.
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