Robins went missing between July and August 2002.
Oterrio Floyd, a pool attendant at Lyford Cay said that in 2002 he lived at Mallory Lane. He was employed at Burger King as a cleaner making about $165 a week. The witness, who tried to contain his tears, was very emotional throughout his testimony. The witness said he met Cordell Farrington in January 2002 and moved in within a week of their meeting. He was 21 at the time. He, along with Cordell Farrington and two other roommates, resided in the apartment. Mr Farrington, his lover, slept in his bedroom, he said. “He stopped living in my bedroom in late May (2002) when Elkin and Joseph moved out,” the witness told the court. Mr Floyd said he started seeing Jamal Robins around their apartment in February 2002.
On July 17, 2002, the witness said, he left work at 12 and got home at about 12:30 p.m. He testified that he overheard an argument between Farrington and Robins. “Cordell was telling him if he sell his body he might catch AIDS. At that point he just said in a friendly way, ‘I would kill that boy'”, he stated. The witness said the conversation did not last very long and he did not intervene in any way. He went to bed and was awakened by a rumbling about 6:30 a.m. Within the next five minutes he said the accused was at his door shouting, “Terry, Terry, Terry, I kill him!” The witness said he was not pleased with being awakened at that hour nor did he believe the accused. Nonetheless he followed him to the bedroom where he said he saw a body lying face up on the floor. “It was Jamal Robins body,” he disclosed. The witness told the court that the accused was standing near the body. He was wrapping the body up and cleaning up blood. Angrily he asked Farrington what he had done in their home. Pacing the hallway of their home, the witness questioned who he was going to tell, but because he was “gay” he decided he could not tell his mother or the police.
Floyd said he never went into the room where the body lay. “He shook me and say Terry, Terry catch yourself. He said he would harm me and kill my family,” the witness stated.
Floyd said Farrington went back into the bedroom and completed wrapping up the body and soaking up blood with towels and sheets. “I was forced to help him carry the body because he told me it was too heavy for him to lift,” he said. In compliance with the request, Robins’ body was placed in the back trunk of Farrington’s car and discarded in bushes off the Grand Bahama Highway.
Throughout his testimony, neither Farrington nor Floyd appeared to look at each other. Farrington sat in the prisoner’s dock with his head bowed and eyes downcast throughout the proceedings. Edward Robins broke down on hearing the evidence and had to be escorted out of court.
The trial resumes at 10:15 a.m. today.
By: JIMENITA SWAIN, The Nassau Guardian
