CNB key witness dodges answers

(CNS): The crown’s key witness in the Cayman National Bank robbery failed to answer most of the questions directed to him when he returned to the stand Wednesday. As Paul Keleher QC, the fourth defense attorney in the case, representing Andre Burton, began his cross-examination, Marlon Dillon, who has been labeled ‘supergrass’, dodged his way through most of the questions, telling the attorney he could not recall or repeating well-used answers.

Giving evidence against Burton, David Tamasa, George Mignott and Rennie Cole, all accused of undertaking the armed bank robbery with him in June 2012, Dillon returned to court after several days of interruptions and closed-door legal arguments, but gave little away.

Despite constant prodding from the judge to answer questions from the defence attorney, the prosecution witness continued to offer answers unrelated to the questions or refused to explain when queried about the different and specific lies he told to police during numerous interviews and during three other trials.

During a lengthy exchange regarding BBM messages, Dillon insisted he could not recall any of the messages or who the person he was messaging was, even though it was very clear from the record of the exchange that Dillon knew whoever it was well.  The messages were exchanged between Dillon and a person identified on the BBM as ‘Untouchable’ while Dillon was hiding in the bushes close to his home some hours after the robbery.

Dillon told the court that while he was hiding he had only messaged his wife to say he was thirsty, and he denied messaging anyone else. However, as Keleher read out the exchange from the phone record, Dillon refused to look at the document and insisted he did not recall anything.

Asked about an exchange between himself and his wife about a lawyer, despite the black and white evidence before him, he continued to insist he had only messaged her about being thirsty.

As Keleher quizzed Dillon about the messages with ‘Untouchable’ he continued to say he did not recall who ‘Untouchable’ was or sending and receiving the numerous messages. Asked if ‘Untouchable’ was an accomplice or a gang member, Dillon failed to recall and refused to answer when Keleher asked him to confirm that it wasn’t any of the men in the dock.

He refused to acknowledge the exchange, and despite the detailed back and forth that made it clear Dillon knew the individual, he continued claiming he could not recall any of it.

The messages focused on the police actions at Dillon’s house as ‘Untouchable’ was clearly in a position to see what was happening and ended the message by telling Dillon to run as the police were heading to where he was hiding.

As the attorney pressed on in his efforts to get Dillon to answer his questions, the witness denied that his answers were scripted lies.

Nevertheless, Dillon continued to repeat answers he had given to other questions in earlier cross-examination. He denied saying things recorded in interviews or insisted he could not recall or explain anything he had said. Dillon denied allegations from the attorney that he had been telling a “pack of lies”. Instead, he said, he had come to realize that he needed to do the right thing and tell the police about his and his friends’ involvement.

He insisted that despite being a member of the Birch Tree hill Gang and associating with what he described as a “criminal network” before he was cajoled and tricked, as he claims, into assisting with the CNB and WestStar robberies, he had never before committed a crime.

Dillon, who is supposed to be a protected witness as a result of giving evidence in this trial, the WestStar robbery and a gang related murder, is now facing significant problems in relation to that protected status.

He has insisted that promises were made to him that, in exchange for his testimony, after he served a reduced sentence he would be reunited with his family currently in the UK. However, as a result of his own conviction for both the bank and television centre armed robberies, Dillon cannot get a visa to enter the UK and, as a Jamaican national married to a Caymanian, he is now facing deportation from the Cayman Islands.

Burton, Tomasa, Cole and Mignott have all denied playing a part in the armed CNB robbery and claim that Dillon has falsely accused his former friends after he was caught red-handed but was too scared to name the real culprits. By making up false stories about them, the defendants have claimed through their attorneys, he has in turn landed a greatly reduced sentence for his admitted part in the armed robberies and was hoping to get a new life overseas as a result of his cooperation.

Dillon also named several other individuals who allegedly took part in both the bank and WestStar robberies, including other getaway drivers and staff inside the bank and the television offices that allegedly assisted. However, no charges were ever brought against those other individuals.

He is scheduled to return to the stand tomorrow at 10am in Grand Court one as cross-examination continues.

The case is being heard by a jury of twelve men and women and is presided over by Justice Ingrid Mangatal.