Deon P. Green, Gleaner Writer
As prime suspect, 32-year-old Joel Smith continued his testimony
in Old Bailey criminal court in London last week, in connection with the double murder of seven-year-old Toni-Ann Byfield and Bertram Byfield, he admitted visiting the deceased but told the court that when he left, they were alive and well.
The prosecution has stated that Smith must have thought that he got away with the "perfect crime" because there were no witnesses, no closed circuit television recording of his escape and no forensic evidence at the scene. According to the prosecution, Toni-Ann was killed to eliminate the only witness to Bertram's murder.
Mr. Smith told the court that he had seen Bertram and Toni-Ann when he went to buy cannabis at the flat in Kensal Green.
The court further heard that Mr. Smith met Bertram at the Notting Hill Carnival near Kensal Green, where Smith went to purchase cannabis from Bertram a known drug dealer. That purchase, Smith said, was a month prior to the murders being committed.
Smith told the court that he knew Bertram as 'Blacka' and had been to his flat on one other occasion to buy cannabis.
Referring to the night of the murders, Smith said he went to Bertram's home where he saw Toni-Ann sitting on the bed, but he did not know the child was his as he had not been introduced to her.
He said he told Toni-Ann hello but she did not respond and that he bought the cannabis again.
NO GRUDGE
"Apart from her being there, there was nothing different from the other occasions I had been there; I was only there a short period," Smith told the court.
Smith said that when he visited Bertram, he did not have a gun and that he had no grudge, or motive to kill either Toni-Ann or Bertram.
His attorney Paul Lewis, Q.C., asked him, "When you left were father and daughter still alive and well?"
Mr. Smith replied; "Very much so."
He told the court he believed another man he named as Tafari Dacas - currently serving a life sentence for an unrelated murder, killed Mr Byfield.
He said Dacas told him he had gone round to see Mr. Byfield, whom he believed was having an affair with his girlfriend.
Asked whether he thought Dacas had shot Mr. Byfield, Mr. Smith said: "Yes, that is correct."
The trial continues.
