By Georgina Wilcox

Robert Aaron Crawford (20) was found guilty on Wednesday 31^st October by Justice Charles Quin for possession of an unlicensed firearm, a Luger handgun, following a judge alone trial.

A police officer said two persons had given him information relating to a white Nissan motor vehicle that was parked at the end of the car park by the Grand Pavilion complex near to Club7 on the early hours of November 17^th.

The officer then drove his marked police service vehicle to the Nissan vehicle and spoke to the driver who was sitting in the car behind the wheel with its engine running. The driver was identified as Crawford.

The officer asked the driver to turn the engine off and get out but Crawford did not obey.

At that point the two other persons who had given the officer the information approached and one of them said, “Officer, that’s the man that pull the gun on me”.

After saying those words the person then punched at Crawford and the officer spun round to restrain him. Crawford then drove off.

The police officer shouted to his partner to get into their vehicle quickly and it was then a Uniformed Support Group (USG) vehicle pulled into the car park. The police officer shouted to the officers in the USG to, “Catch that car. The driver has a gun.”

However, it was established at the trial that the police officer never saw Crawford with the gun.

The USG officer said he and another officer, who was driving, drove their car into the Grand Pavilion lot and passed a white Nissan vehicle, identified later as Crawford’s, as the latter drove out. They drove up to the police officers who were surrounded by a group of people. It was then they were instructed by the police officers to follow the white Nissan and why.

They chased the Nissan until it crashed into a barrier on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway near to the Island Heritage roundabout.

The USG officer said Crawford emerged from the passenger car door because the driver’s side door was pinned against the barrier. Crawford was the only occupant of the car. Crawford then ran towards the USG car clearly showing himself in their car’s headlights. Crawford then turned around and ran in the opposite direction.

The USG officer shouted at Crawford, “Stop! Armed Police! Get on the ground!” Crawford did not obey. The USG officer recognised Crawford as he had “met with him and spoken with him for several minutes the day before.”

The USG officer gave chase giving Crawford more commands to stop and as an officer he was trained to watch hands and said,

“As I was running I watched his hands …… I could see both his hands came in front of his body. From my training … individuals will conceal firearms for immediate access. Realising he [Crawford] could be reaching for something I gave him more commands. He looked over his shoulder. I could see he lifted the front of his short.”

The USG officer said when Crawford lifted his short he was reaching into the front of his waist band with his right hand. He saw Crawford’s right hand re-emerge from in front of his body and he could see he was holding a silver coloured handgun.

The USG officer said Crawford was running just as a track and field person would run with a baton. As they were nearing the end of the guard rail he could clearly see the weapon still in Crawford’s hand.

“Just past the guard rail,” the USG officer said, “he [Crawford] entered the bush area on the west side of the highway. A few yards into the bush he threw the gun with his right hand in a motion across his body towards the left …. A motion that was about waist high …. I saw the silver-coloured hand-gun rotate horizontally through the air.”

The gun landed in the bushes and it was after this that he was able to catch up on Crawford and apprehend him. Soon afterwards a marked police car arrived and he told the officers in the car the area the gun had been thrown. He was present the whole time the area had been searched and saw when it had been found. He identified the weapon as being the one Crawford had in his hand whilst running.

When questioned how the USG officer could see all what was happening he said the area was very well lit. He described the weapon as being an old World War II Model semi-automatic gun.

There was a catalogue of mistakes by the RCIPS in the case including a gunshot residue swab taken from Crawford that was never sent for analysis, crime scene photographs that appeared to show that the ammunition for the weapon had been moved, and inconsistencies over what happened on the night between officers and other issues with the custody record.

Justice Quin said the evidence of the officer who chased Crawford was the crux of the matter.

Even though the Defendant, Crawford, did not give evidence, the judge said he was entitled to remain silent and it was for the Crown to prove he was guilty.

However, the evidence against Crawford was sufficiently strong to require an answer from Crawford, which he didn’t do. Justice Quin said the only explanation he could give to Crawford’s silence “is his awareness that he has no answer, or none that would stand up to cross examination by the Crown and therefore I am entitled to draw an adverse inference.”

The explanation given by the Defence for Crawford’s running away was that he was driving whilst under a period of disqualification, he had been drinking (.91% Intoxilyzer reading) and driving at high speed that caused him to crash his car.

There was also no DNA or finger print matches to Crawford on the weapon, and he had no gloves in his possession when arrested. Although there was a mixed profile of DNA on the gun, which experts said could include at least two other people, Crawford was excluded from them all. There was, however, a positive DNA match from the weapon to another third party who has previous convictions for firearms offences and is also known to police as a man with gang affiliations.

Justice Quin, however, whilst taking into account all the inconsistencies found the officer’s evidence to be “clear and unequivocal”, despite vigorous cross examination. The judge said he did not think the USG officer was mistaken in what he saw that night and believed he had given an accurate description of the incident.

Pointing to what he described as other supporting evidence, including Crawford’s indication when he was finally arrested that his passenger, Jordon Bush, had a gun, that he had tried very hard to evade police, as well as the fact that a complaint had been made earlier in the evening by another witness that Crawford had threatened him with a handgun, the judge said he believed the defendant was “guilty as charged”.

Crawford’s defence counsel immediately announced they would be filing an appeal to the verdict on behalf of his client. They pointed to “a number of questions that remained unanswered in the case.”

Crawford has a history of criminal activities since he was first arrested at the age of 17. He was held on remand for the murder of Alrick Peddie for more than a year after his arrest in April 2010, but along with two other men, Jose Sanchez and Roger Bush, was acquitted of the West Bay murder, which occurred in broad daylight in the victim’s family yard in Willie Farrington Drive in March 2010. But five months later Crawford has been arrested again and following Justice Quinn’s guilty verdict is on remand once again to HMP Northward.

A social enquiry report was ordered ahead of Crawford’s sentencing that is set for January next year. He is looking at a minimum of ten years behind bars as a result of the mandatory sentence attached to firearms possession.