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Keith Clarke widow challenged by defence attorney

By Racquel Porter 
 
As the trial of the Jamaica Defence Force soldiers continued Wednesday, defence attorney Peter Champagnie, K.C., accused the prosecution's main witness, Dr. Claudette Clarke, of being untruthful about the manner in which her husband Keith Clarke was shot.
 
Mr. Champagnie is representing Corporal Odel Buckley. 
 
In a series of suggestions to Dr. Clarke, Mr. Champagnie told her that when she told the jury that her husband was shot when he was coming down the closet and that his back was turn towards the soldiers, it was a lie.
 
Dr. Clarke disagreed, telling the attorney that the scientific evidence will give him the answer.
 
Pressing further, Mr. Champagnie suggested that Dr. Clarke was inside her bathroom with her daughter when her husband was shot.
 
Rejecting the suggestion, the emotional widow said, "No, sir. You can continue with your suggestion but a suggestion is not a fact, sir.
 
The educator also rejected suggestions that on May 27, 2010, she knew that gunmen were in her basement.
 
Dr. Clarke insisted: "No, sir. There were no gunmen in my house. Never! There are no gunmen in my house. I don't agree with that suggestion, sir. There was no other person in my house but me and my family members."
 
Wrapping up his cross-examination, Mr. Champagnie suggested that Dr. Clarke knew that her husband was firing his gun on the outside.
 
Lance Corporals Greg Tingling, Odel Buckley, and Private Arnold Henry, are on trial for the 2010 murder of the businessman. 
 
Mr. Clarke was killed at his Kirkland Heights home in St. Andrew during a police/military operation to apprehend drug lord Christopher 'Dudus' Coke.


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