Witness claims no knowledge of deceased nephew's connection to Grants Pen men

An uncle of Matthew Lee, one of the three men killed during a police operation in 2013, testified that he had no knowledge of repeated warnings allegedly given by the young man’s father about his association with men from Grants Pen in St Andrew.

“I couldn't answer that part. I don't know — he never said it to me,” the electrical engineer responded when defence counsel Hugh Wildman asked whether Lee’s father had consistently cautioned him about the company the deceased was keeping in the Grants Pen community.

“Did you speak to him about his association with the Grants Pen men?” Wildman further inquired.

“No. I didn’t have any idea about what was going on,” the witness replied.

He also denied knowing about his nephew’s alleged association with men from Grants Pen or being familiar with any of his nephew’s friends from that area.

Lee, who hailed from Smokey Vale in St Andrew, was killed on January 12, 2013, along with Mark Allen and Ucliffe Dyer during an operation involving members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Sergeant Simroy Mott, Corporal Donovan Fullerton, and constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose, and Richard Lynch are facing murder charges in connection with the deaths.

The court previously heard from a police witness that intelligence reports had identified Dyer as an area don.

Under further cross-examination, the uncle confirmed that Lee’s father was an accountant but said he did not know whether he had worked with the Jamaica Labour Party.

Earlier, in his evidence-in-chief, Lee’s uncle testified that he was the relative who identified his nephew’s body at a funeral home on January 12, 2013. He later attended the post-mortem examination on January 23, 2013.

He described Lee as a quiet and kind young man who was approximately 25 years old at the time of his death. According to the witness, Lee had no children and had studied music production overseas.

The court also heard that Lee worked with his father, a chartered accountant, prior to his death. He drove a blue Mitsubishi Outlander motor vehicle, which the uncle later saw at a police station.

The uncle said the last time he saw Lee alive was during the week of his death.

The trial continues tomorrow in the Home Circuit Court before Justice Sonia Bertram-Linton.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com