Murder Accused Claims Police Beat Him Until Confessing to Teenager's Killing, Says Defense

Despite telling police he had nothing to do with the murder of Ajay Smith, they beat him “very badly” until he confessed to the teenager’s killing.

So said murder accused Lerent Ramon Forde as he gave his defence in the No. 2 Supreme Court yesterday.

Forde, of Bourne’s Land near St Christopher, Christ Church, is charged with murdering 19-yearold Smith, sometime between May 23 and 24, 2017.

He opted to remain in the dock and gave a 35-minute unsworn statement.

The accused told the court that on May 23, 2017, he was liming with some friends at “the four cross in Silver Sands” when he saw Smith walking “up the road”.

“He start firing gunshots at us. He fired multiple shots. We all ran for our lives,” Forde said.

He said he fell as he was running through a track behind a nearby shed. When he was getting up, one of the men with whom he had been liming and who had run as well, asked if he was okay “because he think I did get shot down”.

The accused said he responded he was fine but then noticed a burning feeling on his left side.

“That is when I realise I got graze by a bullet,” Forde said.

He also realised he had dropped his cell phone as he was running and went back to look for it. When he found it, he said he used the light to look at the injury and realised he was bleeding.

Spoke angrily

The other men with whom he had been liming gathered around him and were speaking angrily about the incident.

“They were saying we like we got to put a stop to it and I said, ‘The best thing to do is go home’.

They said they got to put a stop to it and the guys said they going to look for Ajay,” Forde told the court.