And the subject of that alleged perjury was the personal weapon that PC Augustine claims to have carried with him to the scene of the crime. It's a weapon he failed to put on the record during his initial testimony, one that was never submitted for ballistic testing.
Now, the question that arises, given the presence of that fourth weapon, is whether it casts a reasonable doubt about Martinez being the only shooter.
That possibility was discussed extensively by Attorneys, Selgado and Bradley today, here are all the ways they looked at it.
Dickie Bradley, Attorney-At-Law
"Where did this firearm come, what does this have to do with it, I mean then you know his answers are so, there is something at the Placencia police station where you put your gun and that is where he went and he put in his private gun and then who kept the key, the key was just dangling right down, -but it's a whole long sequence of thing and so I guess the senior crown council Javier Chan will get in contact with his big boss the Director of Public Prosecutions to make a report because the judge was not impressed at all that a member of our police force would come to court and do what unfolded."
Cherisse Halsall:
"Can you now sir, speak about that 11th-hour revelation that you introduced yesterday, where Clyde Augustine Claude Agustine testified to the fact that he had his personal weapon on the night in question, how does that change things for you?"
Oscar Selgado, Attorney-At-Law
"It does because it shows, one that the investigation is seriously flawed in the sense that the police took control of the matter on the night it happen, immediately and the police were unable to make find that Claude Augustin, police Constable took a firearm with him, and this is beside his government issued 9mm pistol, now he is sayin that he didn't take his government-issued firearm, he put it back in the safe but there is no record to show, and like I said that is evidence and I don't want to go into it but it is discovered that Claude Augustin took a personal firearm and that there were four firearms out there. In my closing arguments, I will put to the judge that there were four firearms out there and only one of those firearms was submitted for ballistic testing."
Dickie Bradley, Attorney-At-Law
"The trial judge I guess just felt that something had to be said in court and it was this extraordinary performance of the police witness who had given a statement, changing his mouth as he goes along, this is a trial in which a child has lost his life, and in which a corporal of our police force is on trial for that death, it's a tragedy on the two sides for those who lost Laddie Gillett and for an officer of the law to be on trial facing what could be years in prison and here is a witness who had given a statement which is very different from all the other statements from his fellow police officers and he took out a police issued firearm for which the Placencia police station keeps a special logbook, you sign out what you carry with the amount of ammunition and when you return it, you turn it in with the amount of the ammunition, he said that in a statement around the time of the incident, he would have had to read his statement before he came to trial, and he would have to know I just can't walk in there and from my memory decide let me see what I will say and then he tells the judge, you know I didn't sign for anything, I didn't sign back in any gun either. He said it he didn't sign it. In fact the attorney read the caption, every statement carries a caption that I am making this statement and I know I could get into serious trouble if I am telling things that are not true but then now, he came with a totally different matter, he had a personal firearm, hidden inside, well I can't say the police shirt because he was asked in court like did you have on a uniform and he can't remember if he had on a police uniform. So, then they asked him, like well, are you required when you are driving the police vehicle, are you required to be driving and he can't say if you have to be in your uniform, so I guess you could just turn up in civilian clothes with a Meghan the stallion T-shirt and go and drive the vehicle, but you know the performance, it's like as he's going along he is changing and the changes are obvious."
