Four more witnesses take the stand in the Manslaughter Trial of Kareem Martinez

Today was day four in the manslaughter trial of former Police Corporal Kareem Martinez for the shooting death of 14-year-old Laddie Gillett. The highly anticipated trial resumed this morning in the Dangriga Supreme Court before Justice Antoinette Moore. Four witnesses testified on the medical findings related to Gillett’s death. The first witness was Dr. Loyden Ken, the pathologist who conducted Gillett’s post-mortem, and the second was Sherlyn Lino, an expert in the field of forensic science. Senior Counsel Richard “Dickie” Bradly, who was hired by Gillett’s family to assist the prosecution, explained to Love News the importance of this morning’s testimonies.

Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney: “The post mortem was very clear that Gillett was as a matter of medical science shot in the back. The bullet exited his chest. The wound that that bullet caused there was no way that you’d survive. He bled to death with some organs damaged, an important artery. What Sherilee Lino did just now is to methodically go through having received the sealed firearm from the accused person who yesterday officers said he retrieved it from the accused person’s hands, processed it and sealed it in his presence as well as in the presence of a scenes of crime technician who also photographed everything that was taking place. That firearm was taken by that officer to the nation’s forensic laboratory and now we have the scientist saying that that is the gun box that she received which was sealed that she opened it that she examined the firearm, examined the magazine and examined the nine rounds of ammunition that was in the magazine and she also opened an envelope which was sealed and also brought to the lab which contained the single casing what you would call the bullet shell, that shell is crucial in this case because the shell was retrieved by the police investigators from the scene. When you discharge an automatic or semiautomatic firearm there is no slug, no actual led bullet be cause it apparently exited the young man’s chest but throughout her testimony there is no doubt in our minds that that is the empty shell from the firearm retrieved from the police officer, processed and sent to the lab.”

Gillett’s foster dad, Emil Bradley, says while he is optimistic that the family will receive the justice they are demanding there are aspects of the case that he finds troubling. Yesterday, the cops that were with Martinez on the night of the incident testified in court and their recollections of the incident have infuriated the victim’s family. Bradley says that after Gillett was shot none of the officers even attempted to resuscitate him. 

Emil Bradley, Laddie’s Father: “All we’re asking here for I mean after listening to the police officers it’s such a shame and a disgrace on them to lie on a human being, on a life. It just shows how much they value a human life and you could see why these abuse are happening so often by the police it’s because of the way how they think, how they see other people, they have no respect for other lives you know ? I won’t say all the police but some of them. All we’re listening here I mean what really hurts listening to them yesterday was to assist any medical attention to him, did you even check his pulse to see if his heart was beating ? You know which shows us as the family it makes us feel like it wasn’t important, it doesn’t matter, you already got shot, you’re already dead just stay right there. From the time you’re detaining somebody that is more important to detain somebody who has not committed any offense in their view except they tried to say “Oh you breached curfew.” That is more important to detain that person than to take Laddie for medical attention. What we want here and what the thing is for him to do some jail time, for him to understand, for him to feel and think of his actions that he did. So we won’t be satisfied until he does some jail time, whatever they decide on giving him we just don’t want him to be walking as a free person after all that we’ve been through. You know people have to learn that other families we don’t want this to happen to other families so we need to set an example. It has to start here with Kareem and we can continue and there’s so much that this government and this department could do to improve the police department. When you listen to it a police officer doesn’t even have a watch to tell the time, doesn’t even have a notebook to write down the incident whatever happened with the time especially something like this for something this important it’s a shame. A police not even have a notebook, not even have a watch to tell the time, can’t even testify based on the time because he cannot compare because he wrote on a piece of paper where that got to I don’t know. So it’s a shame there’s a lot of things that we need to improve on. I must say and I must speak honestly I’m not happy. I’m not happy at this point in time to just sit down and listen to the lies from the police those three especially yesterday you know that’s all I have to say. We just want to see the man do some jail time.”

Martinez stands accused of shooting Gillett dead in Placencia Village while on duty in July of 2021. The minor and one of his friends were walking along a beach in the village when he was shot and killed moments after encountering the police.