Policeman on murder charge stuck behind bars

A policeman in a murder case is currently stuck behind bars because he has no one to bail him.

Corporal Deon Carr was granted bail in the Home Circuit Court on February 1 in the sum of $1.5 million with sureties.

However, efforts to get him out have not been successful.

“I discovered recently that you cannot use any assets other than a land title to bail someone [at the Supreme Court]. It is wrong and unconstitutional and I plan to challenge it in court,” said Carr's attorney Hugh Wildman.

“Land is not the only asset or property known to law. So, if you have the most expensive motor vehicle, which is far in excess of the amount in the bail bond, you cannot use it to bail someone,” added Wildman in decrying what he described as a  policy at the Supreme Court.

The lawyer said he has to be representing Carr free of cost because he cannot pay legal fees, and according to him, he is not getting any support from the Jamaica Police Federation or the Government.

Both the attorney and his client have expressed outrage that the cop was charged because they argue that he was acting in self-defence at the time of the incident.

Carr is claiming that the case against him developed out of an attempt at revenge because he intervened in a shooting at a wholesale in Greendale, Spanish Town, St Catherine on December 21, 2021.

According to him, it was because of that incident that he was attacked by a group of men on August 19, 2022.

Carr said he was off-duty on December 21, 2021, when he saw some men shooting a security guard who ended up crippled because of his injuries.

One of the men, Romario Thomas, fired at him and he returned the fire and Thomas was shot. 

Thomas was subsequently charged with shooting with intent, wounding with intent,and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition after he turned up at a hospital seeking treatment for gunshot wounds.

“I was going to court in that matter until Thomas pleaded guilty to the charges,” Carr said.

Carr is claiming that on August 19, 2022, a relative of Thomas pointed him out to some men and they immediately fired shots at him.

He said he fired back and one of the men he claimed attack him, Tajay Smith, was fatally shot.

Following investigations by the Independent Commission of Investigations and a ruling by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, Carr was charged in April 2023 with Smith's murder and for shooting with intent of another man.

Carr said he was shocked to be charged with shooting with intent at a man who, he claims, along with his friends, first fired at him.

He said so far the man has not been charged with shooting with intent at him and that was not fair.

Carr was granted bail last year in the St Catherine Parish Court in the sum of $500,000 with surety.

He was on bail until he appeared in the Home Circuit Court this month and was re-offered bail in the sum of $1.5 million with sureties to return to court on May 21.

Attorney-at-law John Jacobs is also representing Carr.

“I can't believe I could be facing so many injustices because I could have lost my life during the incident,” said the 51-year-old policeman who has 33 years' service in the police force.

He said he is the sole breadwinner for his family and has been suspended from duty without pay.

He said he contacted the police federation, which represents rank and file members of the constabulary force, about his plight but the response he got was that it could not assist him at this time with his legal representation.

Some of Carr's seniors in the police force have described him as a hard-working and dedicated policeman.

- Barbara Gayle

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