Crown: Ex-auxiliary cop threatened murder witness

(CNS): Prosecutor Scott Wainright told the court Thursday that Courtney Alphanso Levy (46), a former auxiliary officer with the RCIPS, threatened a key witness in a murder trial into silence, acting on behalf of a man who was later convicted of killing his own son. As he opened the crown’s case against him, Wainright said the threat worked at the time, but the woman eventually told the police what she knew. The charges against Levy include breach of trust and perverting the course of justice.

The crown’s case is that Levy was acting on behalf of Roger Davard Bush, who had been arrested for the murder of Shaquille Bush in November 2019, when he told Bush’s girlfriend she should not say anything to police when interviewed. The woman, who was the mother of Bush’s child, was also arrested in relation to the murder inquiry. At his trial last year, she explained how the ordeal had kept her from telling the police everything she knew and led to her keeping quiet for more than a year.

She testified that, after her arrest, as she contemplated telling police what she knew about Bush’s involvement in the murder of his son, given that she was already afraid of him, Levy came into the cell where she was being held alone at the detention centre. In an aggressive manner, he whispered in her ear, “The boss man says to hold it down and say nothing.” Taken aback, she asked him to repeat what he had said, and Levy repeated the message, indicating that when interviewed, she should make no comment to the questions.

Fearful of the threat and what Bush might do, she did as instructed by Levy and answered “No comment” to the questions posed by police officers investigating the murder. Both Bush and his girlfriend were then released on bail. A few days later, as the couple pulled up outside a liquor store in George Town, Bush got out of the car and went to speak with a man parked just in front of them. The woman immediately recognised him as the officer from the detention centre.

When Bush returned to the car, he told her that the officer he had sent to her at the detention centre didn’t trust her and was concerned she would “talk on him” and on Bush. She said she didn’t know what he was talking about, and Bush told her to “Keep it that way” before they drove off.

At the time, the witness did not know the name of the police officer, but some time later, he sent her a ‘friend’ request on social media. When she saw his profile picture, she knew it was the same police officer. After the woman finally ended the relationship with Bush and found the courage to go to the police and tell them what she knew about the murder, she also told them about Levy.

Wainwright explained to the court that although she could not know it at the time, the police were aware that Levy had made calls on the night the couple were released from the detention centre on a phone that he often used that belonged to Bush’s mother. Police intelligence also tracked text messages between Levy and Bush.

During Bush’s murder trial and after the evidence about Levy was aired in court, he was charged by the RCIPS, but a temporary gag order was placed on his identity. That has since been lifted as Levy is being tried by judge alone, and an effort by his attorney to keep a lid on his name as the trial opened this week was refused by Justice Roger Chapple, who is presiding over the case.

When he was arrested, Levy denied threatening the witness or meeting Bush at the liquor store. He gave a prepared statement and said the calls he had with Bush were to help with transport arrangements from the detention centre, and the text messages were merely an inquiry about another man and threats he had made to Levy.

The case continues.