Two men accused of murdering British honeymooners in Antigua
were in possession of the couple's mobile phone hours after the shooting,
the court heard.
The newly-weds, from Pontardawe, South Wales, were staying at the five star,
f330-a-night Cocos Hotel when intruders broke into their cottage in the
early hours of July 27, 2008 in a botched robbery.
Nearly three years later Kaniel Martin, 23, and Avie Howell, 20, were brought
to the Caribbean island's High Court, 10 miles from the scene of the
shootings, to stand trial for the murders.
They are also charged with the murder of Woneta Anderson Walker, 43, a
Jamaican shopkeeper.
Anthony Armstrong, the island's director of public prosecutions, told the
court: "The manner in which these three people were killed was almost
identical. All three were shot in the head.
"They were shot with a single bullet, no more no less. All three victims
were killed using the same firearm."
He said the way the Mullanys were shot ruled out that the attackers were
acting in self defence, that it was an accident, or that they were provoked.
Mr Armstrong said the defendants were "both responsible for these three
deaths" regardless of who pulled the trigger.
He added: "Shortly after the shooting of Ben and Catherine Mullany there
is evidence they had in their possession Mr Mullany's stolen phone."
Cellular phone, ballistic, DNA, and medical evidence would all prove the
defendants' guilt, he said.
Mrs Mullany, 31, a qualified paediatrician, died instantly in the attack.
Her 31-year-old husband, a student physiotherapist, was placed on a life
support machine before being flown home to the Morriston Hospital in
Swansea.
The former South Yorkshire Police officer who had also served in the British
Army, was pronounced dead a week after the shooting.
He and his wife were buried at the church where they had married in Wales.
Martin, of Tindale Road, Antigua, and Howell, of Golden Grove, Antigua, were
charged three weeks after the shootings on August 18, 2008.
The two men have since been held in a ramshackle prison in the Antiguan
capital St John's.
They appeared in court with heir hair identically dreadlocked and dressed in
blue jeans, training shoes and open necked shirts. Each man stood in an open
wood panelled dock and answered not guilty to all three murder charges.
The case in the former British colony was listed as "Queen vs Avie Howell
and Kaniel Martin" and the judge, Mr Justice Richard Floyd, sat beneath
a portrait of a young Queen Elizabeth II in the cavernous court room.
Selecting an impartial jury on the island, which has a population of 87,000,
had always been likely to prove a problem and a parade of potential jurors
came and went.
Five of the original jurors selected to try the case told the judge they knew
members of Martin's family.
One of them went to school with Martin, and another went to school with his
father.
A sixth juror was a close friend of Howell's parents and a seventh stepped
down because they knew one of the witnesses.
Three people called to replace them also knew witnesses in the case and had to
be excused.
Yet another turned out to know no fewer than three people involved in the
case.
In all, 11 people had to be removed as jurors because of connections to the
defendants or some of the 70 potential witnesses.
A jury of eight men and four women was eventually sworn. Mr Armstrong told
them to be "fair and fearless" and to use "old fashioned
common sense." Mr Mullany's parents, Cynlais and Marilyn, and Mrs
Mullany's parents, Dai and Rachel, were not in court.
