By PAVEL BAILEY

Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN testified yesterday that he survived being shot four times by two men he had known for years, telling a Supreme Court jury he recognised both attackers as they opened fire on him at his East Street car wash in 2022.

Adam Newbold gave evidence in the attempted murder trial of Mauricio Webster Jr, 23, and Malik Hanna, 27, before Justice Franklyn Williams. Prosecutors allege the pair tried to kill him around 11.50am on December 18 2022 near “Big Yard” in Coconut Grove.

Mr Newbold said he had just started opening his car wash and rental business around 10am when he heard gunfire. Moments earlier, he said he had spoken with his sister and given money to his niece and daughter before they left. While sitting on one of his cars watching a woman open a nearby church, he said shots rang out without warning.

He testified that he ducked for cover beside his office as two men dressed in black jumped out of a white Japanese vehicle and opened fire from behind his business’s fence. He said they remained outside the fence only because they could not get through. According to his account, one man carried a rifle while the other had a handgun, and the attack unfolded quickly.

Mr Newbold identified Webster and Hanna in court as the shooters. He said nothing obstructed his view and that he recognised both men immediately. He told jurors he knew Webster, whom he called “Bunwood,” because they lived in the same house at one point when Webster was on bail and staying with his cousin. He said he would greet Webster in the mornings when passing him.

He said he had known Malik for about 12 years because they had “come up together” in the same neighbourhood, though he could not recall the last time he saw him before the shooting.

Mr Newbold told the court he was shot four times — in the leg, stomach and back — and grazed once on the shoulder. He said he spent eight days in hospital after his cousin, Michael Johnson, drove him to Princess Margaret Hospital in a Nissan Cube. He said: “I went through the full process because God was with me,” adding that the pain only began once doctors started treating him.

Mr Newbold said he identified “Bunwood”, or Webster, in a photo lineup on 23 December 2022 while still in hospital on an IV. He said he later identified Malik in a second photo lineup on December 29. He told the court that a brown Nissan Note photographed outside PMH was the vehicle that transported him, saying most of its windows had been shot out.

Mr Newbold again identified the defendants in surveillance footage, saying they were the men who exited the white vehicle. Under cross-examination by defence attorney Al-leecia Pickstock, he said he knew the shooting occurred around 10.03am because that was the time he usually opened his business and the church across the street began its activities. He said he could not remember when he gave his police statement.

He told the court his office had been shot up and that bullets were flying everywhere from the rifle. He also said his daughter and niece were inside a nearby house at the time. When Ms Pickstock suggested the shooting lasted only eight seconds, Mr Newbold shrugged.

Desiree Ferguson and Gwendolyn Brice-Adderley prosecuted the case. In addition to Ms Pickstock, Keith Seymour represented the accused.