Last night we reported that the trial for the May 2006 double murder of the Brannon brothers ended in a nolle pros. DPP Cheryl Lyn Branker Taitt made the decision to discontinue because a key witness police Sergeant Fitzroy Yearwood was not able to make it to the court due to illness. But was he really unable to make it? Yearwood today called into the KREM W-U-B morning show to protest what he considers public scape-goating for something in which eh says he had no blame. Today, he told Jacqueline Godwin that and more in a quite remarkable interview.
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood,
“I honestly think that we should have gone ahead with the trial. Jackie if I had to, you know, I don’t care if I had to crawl, I would have been in court. Without the DPP making that suggestion I would have been in court and I am saying that from my heart.”
Thirty three year old Police Sergeant Fitzroy Yearwood was scheduled to appear as the fourth witness in the double murder trail of Philip and Kevin Brannon but one month ago he became very sick after his diabetic condition worsened and he has mainly been confined to bed and unable to testify in court. On Tuesday, Director of Public Prosecutions Cheryl Lynn Branker Taitt decided that without him it would have been impossible for her to proceed with the case and both the accused Joseph Kee and Taedron Bennett were freed after being on remand for two years and seventeen months.
The news came as a shock to Fitzroy Yearwood because he says the DPP visited him at home on Saturday and based on their discussion he believed that his testimony would have still been entered as evidence.
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood,
“The DPP visited me Saturday and we had a discussion and in this discussion she said do you have any problem or do you object to your statement be given into, tendered as evidence by the permission of a doctor. I said I had no problem with that; as a matter of fact I gave her my doctor’s name, Dr. Hidalgo
from Karl Heusner because that is the physician that is attending to me now. So she said okay, I will give the doctor to sign the paper and I will get back to you so I said well with that thought I said okay.
My impression was that yes because of my medical condition, a doctor wouldn’t think twice to sign the document for my statement to be tendered as evidence.
I feel deceived and why I say deceived if you know that you cannot do something, don’t say that you are going to do it. I do not care who you are but don’t drag my name down like that. You told me that you were going to get this signature, let’s do it with the signature. When I saw the news I could not believe it because if I had to be flown to Belmopan to testify, I would have been there. I would have been there and I feel that the DPP is using me as a scapegoat. The reason why I am saying this is if you knew that you were going to throw in the towel, using my name at least be honest and tell me that. You left my house on Saturday, leaving me with an impression only to find out when I see the news, it’s different.
If you are saying that I had key evidence that you really needed and you came to me on Saturday, if you were honest with me I would have been there. The same way my brother carry me to use the bathroom; he would have carried me up the court stairs. It hurts because you come to me with one face and then it is another face I am seeing. When I listened and I watched the news and I saw my picture on it you know how I felt? I think the DPP needs to come out and explain to me, first of all I want an apology from her, I will not accept this; you tell me one thing and then I see something else. I cannot accept this.”
It is obvious that Fitzroy Yearwood is a very ill man and the road back to recovery will be long but he believes his medical condition should not have
allowed the trial to be discontinued.
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood,
“You say you have 23 witnesses, three testified, I am number four you are saying. What happen to number five, number 23 you could have had all of them testify. Probably by next week I could have been walking you do not know. It’s medical, God takes care of everything and I just think to bluntly stop the case at my name it hurts because you had other witnesses that you could have called and I could name the witnesses but I wouldn’t do that. But you are saying you have 23 witnesses, why stop at number 4, why stop at the man that you came to and gave a guarantee that you will go to a doctor and get a signature. That is my question why tell me one thing and do something else. We depend on the judiciary, I depend on it, I wouldn’t want it to fail me.”
Yearwood says he did not want to tell us what evidence he would have presented because it may prejudice the case that can be reintroduced, only that it would have been crucial circumstantial evidence.
Sgt. Fitzroy Yearwood,
“I do not want to put any part of my testimony in the news because the case is nolle pros so it can come back but I knew what I could have testified to that day in court and I believe that my evidence would have been good enough. If they say that we can bring back the case, I am willing, I will always be willing to testify but like I said, where will we find the accused?”
Jacqueline Godwin reporting for 7NEWS.
When 7_NEWS_ contacted DPP Cheryl Lyn Branker Taitt for a response she told us that it would not be proper to go into details because she fully expects the case to be reintroduce. She maintains though that her decision was made in the best interest of the case. According to Branker-Taitt, Yearwood should not feel that he was being blamed for the case being discontinued but it is simply a matter of him not being physically or medically well enough to appear in court and testify. When 7NEWS visited the Brannon family, they told us they had no comment.
