Orlando 'Buju' Bonnick during a previous court appearance. Photo: VINO/File

Jemima Kezia James, the office manager of Lazarus Shipping, said that on November 11, 2014, Bonnick came to the office of Lazarus Shipping saying that he had something to ship out.

“He asked if I could use my ID to send the shipment on his behalf and I said no,” James told the court from the witness box.

She said she prepared his documentation and asked him to return with his ID. However, she said he never showed. She said she had signed off the forms expecting Bonnick to return.

According to James, in a casual conversation on the day in question Bonnick asked her if she could do him a favour and ship the items. “I said I didn’t want to… I did not have any particular reason,” she said.

She said Bonnick told her that he wanted to send the shipment to St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Asked by Prosecutor O’Neil Simpson about the nature of the relationship between Bonnick and herself, she said they were just friends.

'Not much of a relationship'

However, under cross examination by defence attorney Patrick Thompson, she admitted that she and Bonnick had an intimate relationship which began around 2005. She said that it was not much of a relationship and they ceased being intimately involved prior to 2009 when she started working at Lazarus Shipping.

According to the Prosecution during a previous occasion, Police and Customs Officers conducted operations on a cargo vessel at Port Purcell and in a cereal box which was searched they found Capri Sun juices and crackers. Upon further examination of the juices it was observed that one of the boxes was allegedly tampered with and upon closer scrutiny a medium-size priority mail package was observed inside. The mail package was further inspected and, according to allegations, a Glock 19 handgun with an empty magazine was found inside.

Additionally, there was a plastic bag with one Glock magazine containing 13 rounds of ammunition and a box containing 50 rounds of ammunition. This led to the arrest of Bonnick.

Bonnick is said to own and manage his businesses A&O Jeep and Car Rental in Lower Estate, OB Plumbing and Construction, Teach Me driving school, as well as a landing and gutter cleaning company.

Testimony continues later today and during this week as the Prosecution indicated that they had quite a number of persons to bring to the witness box.