Late Witness Statement Admitted in Klansman Trial Over St Andrew Parlour Killing

A statement left by a deceased exotic dancer was placed into evidence Monday in the ongoing Klansman gang trial, offering the court a clearer account of what allegedly happened on the night massage parlour operator Noah Smith was fatally shot at Yarico Place in St Andrew.

For several weeks, prosecutors and defence attorneys had argued over whether the statement could be used and how the woman should be identified. The witness, Shaniece Roberts, died in February 2021 from health-related complications, but before her death she gave police an account of Smith's killing on Friday, February 7, 2020.

Michael Wildman, Jerome Spike, Nashuan Guest and Geovaughni McDonald are before the court on allegations that they knowingly helped to facilitate the murder and robbery.

Justice Dale Palmer, the trial judge, settled the dispute after the Crown and defence failed to agree on what portions of the statement should be removed. He made the redactions himself and ruled on Monday that the dancer's statement would be admitted as Exhibit 23.

Roberts' statement, taken by a detective constable, described Smith, whom she called her boss, as having been killed during a robbery carried out by four men. She said Smith, also known as Jason, ran the massage parlour from his home at 16 Yarico Place in St Andrew, where, according to her, "other persons would come and invest in his business".

She also told police that Smith operated another business. Roberts gave investigators the aliases of six other dancers who, she said, worked for him. She said she had only recently relocated to Kingston to live at the premises because of "health issues" she was facing when the attack occurred.

In her account, Roberts said that at about 10:15 pm that night she was in the living room watching television with Jason and another female worker, while the other women were upstairs.

She said she went to the kitchen to prepare food and then heard a knock at the door, followed by her boss saying "client". Instead, she said, a masked man entered and ordered her and the other woman to "Get down and don't make a sound," while telling them, "nuh worry, a nuh unuh wi come fa".

Roberts said a second man, dressed in orange, came into the room and repeated the instruction. Another assailant then tied their hands with tie straps.

Smith, who was also on the floor by then, was restrained as one of the men kicked him and demanded, "Weh di credit card deh? Weh di money deh?" Roberts said the same man took money from Smith's back pocket and pressed him again, asking, "Weh di rest a di money deh?"

According to Roberts, Smith protested that he had no more cash. While that was happening, two of the men took the television from the living room.

She said one attacker picked up a Bluetooth speaker from a counter, put it in his pocket and began loading a firearm while saying, "A kill wi fi kill dem gal yah". Another man responded, "Loww [leave] di gal dem."

The armed man then moved towards Smith and told him, "...bwoy a dead yuh fi dead," before shooting him and leaving, Roberts said.

Roberts told police she was only a few feet from Smith after he was shot and saw him lying "in a pool of blood". She said she managed to free herself, then helped the other woman untie her hands.

The two women ran through a back door and hid in a shed in the yard until the men were gone, Roberts said. When they returned inside, they went upstairs and found the other women hiding in a closet. She estimated that the ordeal lasted about 30 minutes.

Roberts said police came after a security team responded to the incident. She also said she could not identify the four men if she saw them again because all of them had their faces covered.

The Crown argued that Roberts' statement was directly connected to the case and had probative value. Prosecutors also told the court during submissions that, although none of the 25 accused was named in the statement, it was not the only material they intend to rely on for the two counts.

The 25 defendants, alleged by prosecutors to be part of the Tesha Miller-led faction of the Klansman gang, are the second alleged faction of the group to face trial before the courts.

The Crown's case is that the accused are to answer to 16 offences said to have been committed over five years, from August 2017 to November 2022.

The trial is scheduled to continue today in the Home Circuit Division of the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston.