Solomon Forde Testifies in Raheem Barnett Murder Trial, Identifying Shooter

Solomon Forde testified that his now deceased brother O’Neill Chase had identified Raheem Travonte Barnett as the man who shot him.

Giving evidence in Barnett’s murder trial in Supreme Court No. 4, Forde said that on October 5, 2019, he was on the front step of his home in Silver Hill, Christ Church when his cousin came and told him something. Based on that conversation, he went to make a check. He saw his brother, Chase, coming up the road “holding his head” and he walked home with him.

“We stop by the steps for a couple minutes, then we took him inside and put his head on a pillow and put a fan on him. My sister’s boyfriend ask him who shot him and he say ‘Raheem Barnett’,” Forde recalled, adding that several other people were in the house at the time.

The witness told the court that he did not see what had happened to his brother before seeing him walking home and he only knew what his brother told him. Forde also did not remember hearing any gunshots or loud explosions that evening.

He stated that his brother had been walking slowly, and after they took him inside, they asked him where he had been shot.

“He say in the back of he head, and when we looked, I see two lumps that I had never seen before,” Forde told the court.

During cross-examination by Senior Counsel Michael Lashley, Forde said that when he saw his brother coming up the road, he had asked him who shot him but he did not answer at the time.

“I am going to suggest that your brother did not mention to you or anyone who shot him,” the attorney said.

“Yes, he did, when we were inside the house,” Forde replied.

He also disagreed with the defence lawyer’s suggestion that his brother was unable to speak to anyone.

The trial in which Barnett, of Regency Park, Christ Church, has denied murdering Chase, continues on Friday.