BY ALICIA DUNKLEY-WILLIS
Kingston Jamaica (Jamaica Observer) – A retired inspector of police, who was the only witness capable of formally identifying City Puss/Lucifer, five months into the trial of 33 accused members of the Klansman Gang on Wednesday, described how he had to disassociate himself from the police stationed in Spanish Town in order to gain the trust of those being extorted by the alleged gangster.
City Puss O/C Lucifer, who was finally pointed out as the accused Jason Brown, has been behind bars since 2012, however, in telephones recordings played into the records of the court earlier he has been heard describing how, using his self-assigned moniker ‘Lucifer’, he extorted residents of St Catherine and drove fear into their hearts.
This fear is what the former lawman said he had to overcome in order to get individuals to share the voice notes and open phone lines so he could hear when Brown and others made demands.
“Between 2017/18 I had been getting several reports about extortion voice notes circulating in the Spanish Town area from residents on the streets who were so fearful to make the report at the station,” the former policeman told the court on Wednesday.
“Talking to these individuals they were afraid to come to the station to make a report because they claimed that the police were corrupt and [in collusion] with the gangsters,” the witness said.
He said having seen how deep the distrust went he decided to disassociate himself from the local station by telling the residents that he was not from the station but was from the PIU (Proactive Investigation Unit) on Martin Street in the old capital. He said in doing this he gained the trust of individuals who gave him information.
“They would put their phones on speaker and let me listen,” the former policeman testified. He said the voice notes he heard, however, were all from one male who identified himself as “City Puss”.
