Old Harbor burglary arrest, six-cop trial delay and Parliament dispute lead Jamaica developments

Three developments led Friday's local news: a burglary suspect was held in Old Harbor, the murder trial of six police officers was delayed in Kingston, and a political quarrel deepened over Tuesday's sitting of the House of Representatives.

Police say a 40-year-old bus conductor, whose identity is being withheld while investigations continue, is in custody on suspicion of burglary and larceny after an attempted theft at a home on Bullet Tree in Old Harbor, St. Catherine. Investigators reported that at about 5 a.m. on July 1, the complainant was awakened by screams from her 8-year-old daughter. A check of the house showed that a ZTE cellphone, a power bank and a night light had been taken, and officers were told the intruder forced entry through a rear door. Neighbours responded after an alarm was raised, caught the suspect before he got away, and he was allegedly found with the stolen items before being handed to police.

In the Home Circuit Court in Kingston, there was no sitting on Thursday in the murder case involving six cops after lead prosecutor Katherine Pack asked for time until Monday. The matter had been set to continue with a new witness after an INDECOM investigator completed his evidence on Wednesday. Earlier, defence attorney Hugh Wildman, who represents four of the six men, had received permission to attend a matter at the Corporate Area Parish Court in Half-Way Tree, drawing an objection from Pack over repeated scheduling conflicts. The officers are on trial in connection with the January 12, 2013 shooting deaths of Matthew Lee, Ucliff Dyer and Zamark Allen on Acadia Drive in Barbican. It is alleged that police signalled the blue Mitsubishi Outlander in which the men were travelling to stop, after which the occupants came out and challenged the police in a gunfight. Two illegal firearms were reportedly recovered and a fourth man was said to have escaped. The accused officers maintain they acted in self-defence. Those on trial are Sergeant Steve Roy Matthews, Corporal Devon Fullerton, and Constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Oral Andy Rose and Richard Lynch. Fullerton is also charged with making a false statement to INDECOM. The policemen are represented by Hugh Wildman, John Jacobs and Althea Grant Copping. The trial began in January, 13 years after the incident, and is still under way more than six months later.

Under cross-examination on Wednesday, the INDECOM investigator said he visited Constant Spring Police Station in St. Andrew, where the six officers were attached, and copied details from a book a detective identified as the station diary onto an INDECOM form that was later checked by a policeman. He accepted that he did not see the diary entry being made, did not recall seeing an INDECOM officer at the scene in 2013, could not remember what time he arrived there, did not take part in any question-and-answer session, and wrote only one statement in May this year, after the trial had already started.

The opposition PNP also defended MP Nikisha Burchell after what it described as sustained attacks from government members. In a statement issued Thursday, the party said Speaker Juliet Holness refused to let Leader of Opposition Business Philip Paulwell raise a question before hearing it and later proceeded on a Regulations Committee report without allowing a divided vote that opposition members said they requested. The PNP said government MPs then turned the debate into personal attacks on Burchell. Trelawny Southern MP Marisa Dalrymple Philibert accused Burchell of disrespecting the Speaker, while the opposition said Kingston Western MP Desmond McKenzie warned her not to cross his path "or else." Paulwell said every member has the right "to be heard, seek a procedural clarification, and expect that the standing orders to be applied fairly and consistently." St. Mary South Eastern MP Christopher Brown said the singling out of Burchell could encourage attacks in a society where violence is often used to settle conflict. The JLP rejected the opposition's account as lies meant to distract from backlash over disruptive conduct and said the PNP should behave more appropriately in Parliament.