A middle-aged Barbadian woman testifying before the Caribbean Court of Justice this morning has stoutly denied that she knew Jamaica’s Shanique Myrie or ever made arrangements to have the woman stay at her home in 2011.
Pamela Clarke, a shop-keeper from Hillaby in St Andrew, was the first new witness on the stand during the second day of hearings in Myrie’s discrimination case against the Government of Barbados.
Clarke testified that in March 2011 she was approached by her neighbour and friend Daniel Forde who asked if he could provide her name and mobile number to a friend who was due to arrive from Jamaica.
Under cross examination by Myrie’s lawyer Nancy Anderson, Clarke testified that Forde said the friend would call her if she had arrived at Grantley Adams International Airport in Barbados, and had any difficulties reaching him.
“He did not give me her name, but I assumed it was a woman,” Clarke told the court.
In response to probing questions from Anderson, Clarke continued to state she never knew the name of the female coming to Barbados. “I don’t know Shanique Myrie. I have never spoken to her on the phone,” Clarke asserted.
The witness also said she made no arrangement for Forde’s friend to stay at her home. “I don’t have a room for anyone to stay in,” she added. Clarke also said she had known Forde for a long time and that she trusted him, which is why she had no problem with him giving her name and number to someone to call her in case they got into difficulty while at the airport. (BA)
