Westmoreland constables cleared in 2013 Shrewsbury triple shooting after judge backs no-case pleas

Two officers who had faced three murder counts each over a disputed triple fatality in Shrewsbury, Westmoreland, dating back more than thirteen years, left court on Wednesday with acquittals recorded against them.

Constables Damane Campbell and Kenroy Hinds, both posted to the Westmoreland division, were discharged at the Home Circuit Court in the capital once the trial judge accepted arguments from the defence that the Crown’s evidence could not sustain guilty verdicts and instructed the jury to return formal acquittals. The hearing had run for four weeks.

A no-case submission is a mid-trial motion, typically heard after the prosecution rests, in which counsel contends the material before the court is too weak for a conviction.

The pair had been prosecuted following a probe by the Independent Commission of Investigations into the deaths of Andrew Brydson, his sibling Tristan Brydson, and their cousin Kingsley Green on 15 March 2013.

Accounts at the time suggested lawmen, responding to intelligence, arrived at an address in Shrewsbury where they met males carrying firearms. An official police narrative from the period stated the trio died amid an exchange of gunfire and that officers recovered an assault rifle and a pistol.

The episode triggered several days of street action in Shrewsbury and Lacovia, with locals challenging the force’s version of events.

Campbell’s defence team comprised Peter Champagnie, Samoi Campbell, and Sayeed Bernard. Hinds was defended by Jacqueline Samuels Brown and Zara Lewis.