Witness says killer shot his friend in face

Jason Powery, murdered on 2 July 2015

(CNS): One of two eye-witnesses that reportedly saw the murder of Jason Powery behind a George Town bar last summer told the court Tuesday that he saw Justin Ramoon shoot his friend in the face. Jerome Hurlstone (24) said he saw both Ramoon and his brother, Osbourne Douglas, outside the Globe Bar, in Martin Lane, on 1 July, the night Powery, also known as “Moggi”, was shot and killed. He said he saw Douglas with what looked like some kind of nine millimetre semi-automatic gun and later Ramoon used the weapon to shoot Powery at point-blank range.

Brothers Ramoon and Douglas, both from George Town, have both denied charges of murder and possession of an unlicensed firearm. The men have admitted to being in the area, as they live very close to the bar, but have implied that it is a case of mistaken identity.

Hurlstone is one of two men who were with Powery on the night he was murdered and will testify that Ramoon and Douglas were his killers. The crown says that although Ramoon was the one who pilled the trigger, it was Douglas who supplied the weapon, waited for his brother and drove him away from the scene on the night of the killing, for which the prosecution could find no motive.

Cheryl Richards QC, the director of public prosecutions, opened the case before Justice Charles Quin, who is presiding without a jury. The trial was adjourned following jury troubles earlier this year but now it will be a judge alone hearing.

Richards said that the testimony of Hurlstone and a second eye-witness plus CCTV evidence will support the crown’s case that the brothers acted in a planned joint enterprise to murder Powery.

On the witness stand, Hurlstone recalled the night of the killing and said that he had gone to the bar from West Bay for what he described as “Gaza Wednesday”, a reference to a local gang night.

He said that when they arrived, he and his friends, Jason Powery and Justin Ebanks, joined others in the alley by the side of the Globe Bar. He described how Douglas, whom he had known since childhood, was looking intently at the group Hurlstone was with and, seeing that Douglas was armed, he kept a close eye on him.

Shortly afterwards, he said, Douglas walked away and Hurlstone went to buy a beer in the bar. Then, he said, although some distance away from the shooting, he saw Ramoon approach Powery and shoot him from close range in the face.

Hurlstone said there was just one shot before Ramoon began walking towards him and raised the weapon but another friend inadvertently blocked Ramoon and knocked the gun. Although Hurlstone said he heard a click, the weapon did not fire. Ramoon then carried on walking and left the area, while Hurlstone went over to his friend Powery, who was lying in the alley.

He told the court that he tried to shake Powery and called to him. “I said, ‘Moggi, Moggi,’ but he had a hole in his face and he didn’t answer.”

He described how a few minutes later Ramoon passed in a car and he shouted to him, “What Moggi did?” but there was no reply.

The case continues.