‘Solly’ shot during three man fight

Jose Sanchez

(CNS): Solomon (Solly) Webster was shot during a fight in his yard which was started by a third man, the crown revealed as it opened its case against Jose (Peto) Sanchez, the man charged with killing the Special Olympic athlete last year in Miss Daisy Lane. Various witness told police they saw Sanchez (27) with a gun in his hand before Webster (24) was shot during the brawl that the young athlete had become involved in. It began when Shaquille Bush allegedly dragged Sanchez from a car and ended with Webster dying some two hours later from a gunshot wound to the leg.

Sanchez has denied introducing the gun into the fight or firing it, pointing the finger at Bush. Witnesses confirm that Sanchez arrived at Miss Daisy Lane wearing only swimming shorts and carrying a bottle of rum, having spent the day on a boat. But the prosecution said witnesses saw Sanchez with the gun and heard him say during the fight, “One of you goin’ dead tonight!” And after Webster was shot they heard him cry out for his mother and say, “Peto, you shot me!”

Cheryl Richards QC, the director of public prosecutions who is leading the case for the crown, told the court Friday that there is no eyewitness to the actual shooting, which happened on 7 September at 57 Miss Daisy Lane. But she said witnesses saw different aspects of the incident, including seeing Sanchez with a weapon that looked like the Colt automatic handgun that killed Webster and was recovered from the area the next day.  The crown prosecutor said that with witnesses to the start and end of the violent incident and witnesses who claim to have heard the incriminating comments, put together the court could infer Sanchez was the killer.

After almost a week of legal wrangling between the crown and Sanchez’ defence attorneys, the case was opened on Friday morning. Richards said the questions in the case were about who had possession of the gun, who fired it and was it intentional. Sanchez is on trial for murder but the public prosecutor told the judge, who is trying the case alone, that given the evidence, he could find the defendant guilty of manslaughter.

As she set out what the crown believes happened on the fatal night, she said after hearing a gunshot, one witness ran outside into the yard and saw Sanchez, Bush and Webster in what she described as a “bundle” holding on to each other. Bush then left the yard while Sanchez and Webster fell to the floor. Webster tried to stand but couldn’t, though Sanchez got up and began hunting around before fleeing the scene when he heard sirens.

Witnesses then saw that Webster had been shot in the leg and a resident in the yard found the gun, which was later confirmed as the weapon which killed the young athlete. Police also recovered a live 9mm round and a used round from the gun at the scene.

Webster was taken by family and friends to the West Bay Clinic and on the way police stopped to assist, along with an off duty paramedic, who all tried to stem the bleeding in Webster’s leg. The ambulance eventually arrived and took Webster to hospital, where he was pronounced dead, having been hit through both the femoral artery and vein at around 10pm.

The young athlete had won a gold medal for his country in the 2010 regional special Olympic Games at Bocce. Despite his learning difficulties and a number of other problems in his life, Webster was also an accomplished footballer, basketball player and all-round athlete who had a steady job and who was making a positive effort to tackle the challenges he faced.

The trial continues this week in Grand Court One.