Jury expected to start deliberations today

WESTERN BUREAU:

The seven-member jury in the Mario Deane trial will begin their deliberations today, when the case against the three police personnel charged in the 2014 beating death of Deane resumes in the Westmoreland Circuit Court.

Ahead of the jury’s deliberations, High Court Justice Courtney Daye, who is presiding over the trial, will review the unsworn statements that were given by the defendants, Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant, before the defence closed its case. The trio are facing charges of manslaughter, misconduct in a public office, and perverting the course of justice.

During yesterday’s second day of summation by Daye, he told the jurors that they must examine the evidence in relation to the charges against each of the defendants. The charges stem from Deane’s death on August 6, 2014, three days after he was beaten while in custody in a lock-up at Barnett Street Police Station in St James. He had been arrested for possession of a ganja spliff.

“Was something wrong done, and was it done knowing there was a risk, but not caring that there was a risk? The defendants are saying that they did assess the risk, but you must decide whether this is so,” Daye told the jurors.

The judge noted that the prosecution’s evidence against the defendants is based on the claim that the trio breached Deane’s right to safety and care and his right to bail. He cited a 2015 deposition from a now-deceased witness, Castelle McKenzie, who had testified that he went to bail Deane on August 3, 2014, but was told by Stewart, the senior officer at the time, to return later that day, after Deane expressed that he did not like the police.

“The prosecution is saying that the way the sub-officer (Stewart) treated the surety indicates that, from that point, she disregarded the right of the victim, Mario Deane. There is nothing to say that the surety did not have the proper papers, and yet he was told to come back,” said Daye. “The prosecution is saying that that is where the issue started, and it was on Corporal Stewart because she was the sub-officer on duty.”

Daye also addressed the evidence of the prosecution’s star witness, an inmate who was at the Barnett Street lock-up when Deane was beaten and who had earlier told the court that the defendants mistreated Deane prior to the beating. He said the jury will have to decide whether they will accept the inmate’s testimony during their deliberations, despite the defendants’ lawyers having previously condemned the witness as being inconsistent and a liar.

“The witness’ evidence was challenged from the beginning, and you will have to decide whether, because of these challenges, his evidence is accepted at all. The defence is saying that he is a witness with an interest to serve, but that is a matter for you to decide,” said Daye.

Stewart, Clevon, and Grant are jointly charged with misconduct in a public office and manslaughter, arising from Deane’s death. Stewart is also charged with perverting the course of justice, where she allegedly ordered for the cell where the beating took place to be cleaned before investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations arrived.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com