Stranded and shocked. That, said witness Gregory Payne, was his state of affairs when he learnt that accused Roland Omando Maloney had been held, in his car, with a loaded gun.
Payne, of Date Tree Hill, St Peter, told the No. 2 Supreme Court yesterday that in 2002 he was a student nurse, studying at the Barbados Community College (BCC). The accused was also a student nurse at BCC. He (Payne) owned a blue Toyota Corolla, while the accused drove a grey Nissan March.
The witness recalled that on November 13, 2002, he was attending classes when the accused asked him [Payne] to drop him [the accused] to collect a part for his car.
“I had an assignment so I allowed him to borrow the car to purchase the part for his car,” he testified. That was around 10:30 a.m.
But at 6 p.m. when the accused had not returned, he called him to ask him where he was with the car, since he was stranded. However, someone else answered Maloney’s phone. About 40 minutes later, police arrived at BCC and informed him they had his car at Central Police Station.
“I was shocked because I had lent the car to Roland Maloney and to my knowledge, there was no gun my car,” he testified.
Payne said it was the first time he had lent his vehicle to the accused and, when questioned by defence attorney Angella Mitchell-Gittens, he said Maloney had told him he was going to “pick up someone named Jimmy”. (HLE)
