Tattoo artist Dario Taitt convicted of murdering Jamal Clarke in Christ Church
A Barbados jury found Dario Orlando Taitt guilty of murder by 10 to 2. Sentencing is set for February 5, 2027.
Christ Church man found guilty of 2023 shooting death
A 12-member jury has convicted Dario Orlando Taitt of the murder of Jamal Clarke, returning a majority verdict of 10 to two, Barbados Today reports. Taitt, known as "Red Dog," of Silver Sands, Christ Church, had denied killing Clarke on May 2, 2023.
Justice Carlisle Greaves, who presided over the trial, ordered a pre-sentence report and a record of the time Taitt spent on remand. Sentencing has been scheduled for February 5, 2027.
The prosecution
Acting Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Krystal Delaney, acting Senior State Counsel Anastacia McMeo-Boyce and State Counsel Kwame Ramsay prosecuted the case. Defence counsel Martie Garnes represented Taitt.
Key testimony: the dying declaration
Among the witnesses who testified was Jamar Clarke, the deceased's twin brother. Jamar told the court that he and Jamal had gone to Oistins that morning to buy ice. While Jamar was at a supermarket shortly afterwards, someone told him his brother was across the road asking for help.
"When I got there, he was on the ground by the roadside, on his back, using his hands to push forward to get to me," Jamar testified. "A route taxi came and stopped, and two persons help me put Jamal in the back of my car, and I drove off."
As he drove his brother toward the hospital, Jamar said he asked who had shot him. "He said: Red Dog," Jamar told the court. He said he posed the same question two more times during the journey, and each time his brother gave the same answer.
Taitt's unsworn statement
From the dock, Taitt gave an unsworn statement in which he offered a different account of events in the days leading up to Clarke's death. He said someone had brought a mobile phone to his tattoo shop asking him to unlock it, and that he refused, explaining he was not a technician.
Taitt said Clarke later came to the shop asking for the phone, and when told it was not there, pulled down a television set and left. Clarke returned a second time and damaged a window net, Taitt said, frightening a female customer who ran from the premises.
On the morning of May 2, 2023, Taitt said he left home early and travelled to Six Roads to carry out a tattoo job. It was there, he said, that he first heard his name linked to Clarke's shooting.
In his statement, Taitt addressed what he described as the stigma attached to tattoos in Barbados: "I know we as Bajans tend to have a certain stigma when it comes to tattoos, especially tattoos on your face. I is a tattoo artist, and that is how we express ourselves, through art."
He also denied any criminal history: "I don't have no convictions or pending charges. This is the first charge that I ever get in my whole life because I ain't that sort of man. I may have tattoos in my face, drink a lot of alcohol, smoke some weed, deal with more than one woman at the same time, but what I never do is shoot nor kill nobody."
The jury rejected that account. Taitt will return to court for sentencing on February 5, 2027.
Source: Barbados Today