Prosecution closes case in cops’ murder trial

After roughly 11 gruelling months, the prosecution in the murder trial of six policemen closed its case on Wednesday in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston and the defence team comprising three attorneys — Hugh Wildman, Althea Grant-Coppin, and John Jacobs — is expected to launch a no-case submission today. The six cops are on trial in relation to the January 12, 2013 shooting deaths of Matthew Lee, Ucliffe Dyer, and Mark Allen. The three were killed in an alleged shoot-out with lawmen on Acadia Drive in Barbican, St Andrew. Sergeant Simroy Mott and Corporal Donovan Fullerton, along with constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose, and Richard Lynch are before the court. Corporal Fullerton is also charged with making a false statement to the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom). The men were travelling in a blue Mitsubishi Outlander motor vehicle when the police signalled the driver to stop. It is alleged that the driver initially hesitated to bring the vehicle to a halt, but when he eventually stopped, men alighted from it, opening fire at the police. The cops returned fire, killing the three men. A fourth man was said to have escaped in a gully at the end of Evans Avenue which forms and intersection with Acadia Drive. On Wednesday, a policeman assigned to technical services division was the sole witness to be called by lead prosecutor Kathy Ann Pyke. That lawman was not intimately involved in investigating the case, but had been previously called to identify the signature of another cop who was directly connected to the matter. Pyke wanted to admit selected printed photographs of the crime scene into evidence and sought to have the witness identify them. However, trial judge Sonia Bertram-Linton shut it down, pointing out that the manner in which Pyke sought to have that done was improper. The witness did not capture the pictures and he did not participate in any significant way in the investigations. The prosecutor subsequently indicated to the judge that she was finally closing her case. In relation to the printed photographs, the judge told Pyke that she was not going to allow them to be admitted into evidence. During cross-examination by Hugh Wildman, the witness told the court, “I came here at the request of the Crown.” “I came here because of an order of the court,” he said, denying that he had discussed his evidence with the prosecutor before he came to court on Wednesday. He also told the court that he did not discuss his evidence with his superior at the scene of crime unit before he appeared in court. “I did not need permission to come here to give evidence,” said the witness. “I am the sub-officer in charge of the section that I work in at scenes of crime. My superior has nothing to do with me coming to court,” he added. He explained that he could not speak to whether or not Indecom made any request for him to review images of the crime scene. “I had no discussions with Indecom,” he said, pointing out that he received a call from a woman who told him that he needed to appear. “She said I was needed in court. Based on the information received, I was needed in court. I can’t recall if she said that the judge needed me. She did not say what the court required of me,” he told the court. After Wildman completed his cross-examination of the witness, Grant-Coppin and Jacobs, who are the other defence attorneys, indicated that they had no cross-examination for the witness.