A former drug dealer, on trial for the murder of Divonte Hernandez, has told the Grand Court he unknowingly became the getaway driver for the real killer — a henchman who he only knows as ‘Skippa’.
George Orlando Senior, while giving evidence in his own defence, told the court he was present at the time of the killing.
He claimed he didn’t see the murder but heard the fatal shot and could do nothing as he was in a state of shock and fear. Senior claims he was pressed into driving two men, named ‘Skippa’ and ‘Cheese’ on a cross-island debt-collecting mission and had no knowledge that the shooting was going to take place.
Senior, 36, is on trial facing a single charge of murder. His co-defendant, Bianca Vega, 34 and the mother of his youngest son, faces a single charge of accessory after the fact to murder. They both deny the charges.
Hernandez, a young father, was gunned down in broad daylight in a gravel parking lot on Friday, 29 Sept. 2023, along Sound Road near the intersection of Shedden Road and Eastern Avenue in George Town.
While retracing the movements of the men through still-images captured from CCTV, the jury was guided by Senior, who revealed the events leading up to and the possible reason for Hernandez’s death.
Senior told the court that at the crack of dawn, he set out from Vega’s house to meet his supplier, a man whom he only knows as ‘David’, who was on a boat docked in West Bay.
“When I got there, there were two other guys. He introduced them to me as Skippa and Cheese,” Senior said. “He told them my name was MK … then we went downstairs on his boat to do business … I ended up buying $10,000 of weed.”
According to Senior, he went by the name MK to protect his real identity due to the nature of his illegal activities.
Henchmen on a mission to collect debt
After the deal was done, Senior says David asked him for a favour, which was to drive Skippa and Cheese to a couple of locations to collect some money for him, because the original driver was unavailable until midday.
“Skippa got in the front passenger seat and Cheese got in the back,” Senior said. “When they got in, they told me to drive to town.”
The three men then set off in a Honda Fit that was rented in Vega’s name and fitted with fake licence plates that were switched by the henchmen, while Senior says he was conducting business with David.
According to Senior, the men then set off on a journey that included multiple stops across several places including Rock Hole, Whitman Seymour Drive and even the Holiday Inn resort.
“I could see they were calling and texting people and becoming very angry because some people weren’t answering,” Senior said. “Skippa told Cheese that they were playing with the boss’ money.”
During the three-hour cross district journey, Senior said they made multiple stops, and on three occasions Skippa exited the car with a “black gun with a long magazine” under a jacket.
“When I saw the gun, I became afraid and I asked if that was necessary, then Cheese hit me in the back of my head and told me to shut up,” Senior said. “When I looked back, I realised that he had a gun as well.”
The jury heard that Senior attempted to leave the car, claiming he was feeling sick and needed to get some food. When that failed, he asked them when the original driver would take over.
“I told them I had to be finished by noon, because I had a busy day ahead of me selling drugs, because it was payday and most people buy their weed on payday,” said Senior, who added that he was hit in the head again by Cheese, who told him he wasn’t going anywhere.
Senior says they told him to drive to the Liquor 4 Less parking lot off Sound Way.
‘Skippa is the killer, not me’
Throughout the trial, Senior has maintained that he was the driver against his will, and that the real killer was Skippa.
The time stamp on government CCTV images shows that within 16 seconds of Senior parking in the gravel lot, the masked gunman exited the vehicle, opened fire, returned and then they sped away.
“Skippa, who was still in the front passenger seat, got a ski mask and sunshades from the same bag he took the gun out of,” Senior said. “He also had on a hoodie. I didn’t see the shooting, but I heard a loud bang, and saw people running.
“Skippa got back in, and said ‘I found the guy who stole our cocaine’,” said Senior, who noted that he only heard one shot.
Hernandez, who died at the scene, was the only person injured. However, it is not clear if he was the person said to have stolen the drugs.
The trial continues.