Munga Honorable Murder Case Ends After Eyewitness Evidence Falls Apart

The murder case against dancehall artiste Munga Honorable and co-accused Sheridan “Mad Rhymes” Gordon came to an abrupt end on Friday in the Gun Court Division of the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston.

Prosecutors offered no further evidence after the defence challenged the reliability of the Crown’s only eyewitness, whose account contained several contradictions. The witness had alleged that Munga Honorable, whose given name is Damian Rhoden, and Gordon shot Cleveland Campbell dead at Ackee Walk in St Andrew in 2017.

With the Crown no longer pursuing the case, Rhoden and Gordon were released. The two men had spent nine years facing the matter, which had been delayed several times because witnesses were not available.

Rhoden was represented by attorneys Christopher Townsend and Chadwick Berry. Gordon’s defence team was King’s Counsel Peter Champagnie and attorney Sayeed Bernard.

Champagnie told the Jamaica Observer that Gordon was relieved when he learnt he was free. “Mr Champagnie, I can finally continue my life, and I am eternally grateful to you and Mr Bernard. Thank you very much,” Gordon is said to have told his lawyers.

Townsend said Rhoden told him he felt “free” after the ruling. Townsend also said the defence had successfully undermined the Crown’s case against both accused men.

“I am glad to announce that we were successful in the defence of Munga and Mad Rhymes. It has been nine long years but Mr Champagnie and myself were able to cross-examine the only witness for the Crown to the point where the credibility fell down significantly and the prosecution threw in the towel because of the evidence in the state it was in. We were able to demonstrate that the evidence concerning identification was extremely poor,” Townsend said.

Champagnie said his questioning of the witness on Thursday exposed problems in her version of events. He said she denied having told the court that she stood behind two barrels and saw the men in the passage, but changed position after he referred her to the official court record.

“Under cross-examination yesterday (Thursday), for instance, she indicated that she had not said in court that she stood behind two barrels and saw the men in the passage, but when she was confronted with it by me, in terms of the official court records, she said she was tricked into giving that evidence and that she didn’t understand and was tricked,” Champagnie said.

He added that the witness accepted that parts of the statement she gave police were not true.

In her police statement, the witness had said she was at a party in Ackee Walk and needed to urinate after drinking Heineken beers. She claimed that while going to relieve herself, she saw the fatal shooting.

During cross-examination by Townsend and Champagnie, she could not give the court a definite number of Heinekens she had consumed. In testimony, she said she had drunk only one before leaving to urinate.

Champagnie said he revisited that issue with her on Thursday. He said she admitted that her statement referred to her drinking many Heinekens and being seated at a table drinking Heinekens. He also said she acknowledged that although she had been there with friends she described as very good friends, she told them nothing about what she claimed to have witnessed. Her statement to police was given 14 days after the incident.

Townsend’s cross-examination the previous week also highlighted several gaps between the witness’s police statement and her testimony in court.

The witness told the court that while she was relieving herself, she saw a man ride by on a bicycle. She alleged that Gordon stopped the cyclist and held him by the back of the neck. She further claimed Rhoden then approached the man carrying a black object, which she later said was a gun.

“I wasn’t sure what it was at the time but then I saw him lift the thing he had in his hand and hit the person in his head. After that I saw a light flash and then I heard an explosion in the passage where they were. The explosion sounded to me like gunshot and then I saw a next light and heard another explosion,” the witness claimed.

According to the witness, after the cyclist fell, Rhoden handed the firearm to Gordon, who also fired into Campbell’s body. She told the court the moment left her terrified and unable to act.

“I froze at that moment. I was in total shock,” she testified.

The witness said she could see what happened because light from a street lamp on Molynes Road shone back into the passage. She told the court she saw Munga from behind and recognised him from his appearance and clothing. She said he wore a black shirt, black pants and a black hat.

She also said she saw Gordon’s right side from her position, describing him as dressed in a blue merino and light blue jeans pants. “I saw the right side of his head, his right hand and right foot. I saw his ears go down to his right foot,” she said.

The witness said that after the men left, she heard a woman calling for people to go and look. She said she then pulled up her clothes, ran away, got into her car and drove directly home.

“I was in such shock, I stayed in my house,” she said. She told the court that one week later she met one of Gordon’s relatives, who was in “great mourning”, and told him something. Detectives later came to her, and she gave a statement.