Christopher
A former track coach at a St Catherine high school on Wednesday testified that Christopher "Dudus" Coke sought his illegal services to obtain fraudulent visas for couriers -- including a young girl -- to smuggle drugs into the United States.
The coach described how henchmen for Coke showed up at a track meet in Jamaica in the late 1990s and told him the Tivoli Gardens strongman wanted to see him.
The witness was giving testimony on the second day of the sentencing hearing for Coke who pleaded guilty in 2011 to racketeering, conspiracy and assault charges.
The track coach told a federal court in Manhattan that he went and sat in a car where Coke waited with a handgun in his lap.
They reportedly struck a deal to illegally obtain six visas at a cost of $1, 500 each.
The witness said he gave Coke a discount because he was one of the most ruthless persons in Jamaica.
He said he later fled Jamaica because he feared Coke wanted him dead.
The witness said he supplemented his meagre high school income by charging people to get them visas by claiming they were either members of the track team or part of the entourage.
When Coke sought his services, the witness said one of the phony applicants was a girl who was 12 or younger.
He said when he met her she was crying.
The girl claimed her father had been beaten by men aligned to Coke.
The witness testified that he delivered the six visas to Coke in 1998.
For another order of visas in 1999, the witness said Coke paid nothing but he felt powerless to do anything about it.
In 2000 -- after the witness tried and failed to get visas for eight more passports provided by Coke -- he panicked and decided to flee for his life.
He said he threw away the passports.
Prosecutors are using his testimony and that of another witness to try to persuade a judge to give Coke the maximum 23-year term.
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