Cell Phone Evidence Dominates Day 13 of Trial

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police

Wednesday, 22 June 2011 02:31

By Colin Sampson

Antigua St John's - Day 13 of the Mullany/Anderson murder trial began with testimony that placed accused Kaniel Martin near the Cocos hotel shortly after the murder of Catherine and Benjamin Mullany.

Witness testimony also showed that Benjamin Mullany’s Nokia 5310 Music Express cell phone was in use hours after his death.

Witness Trevor Henry, a senior executive with Cable & Wireless West Indies Ltd (Lime), told the court that between August and November 2008, he prepared reports of usage data relating to cell phone numbers 779 7946, 772 2760 and 784 6494. Previous witness testimony had established the number 784 6494 as belonging to Martin.

The reports, prepared by Henry via the Lime Corporate Network from the company’s data warehouse in Barbados, gave the IMEI history of the cell phone numbers under reference. The witness explained that the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identification) number is a unique 15 to 16 digit identification number assigned by the manufacturer to each individual handset. A SIM (Subscriber Identification Module) card, unique to each telephone number, is transferable from one handset to another, but the handset’s unique IMEI number will remain the same and will show up attached to whatever SIM card is being used with that particular handset.

Having been duly identified by the witness, the 25 multi-paged reports were entered into evidence as Exhibits TH/1 through 11 and TH/20 through 23.

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Referring to his reports, Henry informed the court that  at 5:06 am on July 27, 2008 cell phone number 784 6494 received a call from cell phone number 785 2275 (previously identified as belonging to Georgette Aaron). This was within half an hour after the initial report of gunshots at Cocos. The witness said the call was handled by the Jolly Harbour cell site.

Referring to his reports on the IMEI history of the cell phone numbers under reference, Henry was able to tell the court which handsets (identified by their unique IMEI number) were associated with each number at various times. For example, the SIM card for cell phone number 779 7946 was inserted into the Nokia 5310 Music Express cell phone belonging to Benjamin Mullany (IMEI#3595620152758112) at 6:22 pm on July 27, 2008.

This was within 14 hours of the murders.

Similarly, at 1:37 pm on July 28, 2008, the SIM card relating to cell phone number 772 2760 was inserted into the same Nokia 5310 Music Express cell phone.

The SIM card relating to cell phone number 779 7946 was again inserted into Benjamin Mullany’s phone at 6:22 pm on July 29, 2008. 

Turning to the IMEI history of Nokia 2610 handset #0113750029876342, Henry said the SIM card for cell phone number 723 6289 (previously identified as Woneta Anderson’s missing Lime top-up phone) was inserted into that handset.

The SIM card belonging to cell phone number 772 2760 was also inserted into that same Nokia 2610 handset. No dates were available for these insertions. Henry could not account for this.


Defense counsel took note of these omissions, querying the accuracy and reliability of the data recording system, and suggesting that the system was not foolproof.

In response to a question from the jury, the witness said that Golden Grove had its own cell site. He was uncertain as to whether the Jolly Harbour cell site would cover the Golden Grove area.



Alan Tribe, head of the Evidence Recovery Unit of the Metropolitan Police Service at New Scotland Yard occupied the witness stand for the remainder of the session.

Tribe was co-ordinator of forensic evidence management and other support supplied to the Royal Police Force of Antigua & Barbuda by the UK Metropolitan Police Service.

 He gave extensive and painstakingly detailed testimony relating to the management of the crime scene at Cocos and of the forensic and other evidence associated with the case.

Among other things, the witness reported that Corporal Williams of the Royal Police Force of Antigua & Barbuda recovered what he termed “items of interest” relating to accused Avie Howell from the Howell residence at Golden Grove.

At the end of the day, the Director of Public Prosecutions had still not concluded his examination-in-chief. Tribe returns to the stand at 9 am on Wednesday June 22.

 

Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 1	Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 7
Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 2	Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 8
Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 3	Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 9
Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 4	Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 10
Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 5	Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 11
Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 6	Mullany/Anderson murder trial- Day 12

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