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Janice Allen case closed
Friday, May 01, 2009
DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn yesterday ruled that the police officer acquitted of murdering 12-year-old Janice Allen should not be re-indicted, closing the door on any possibility of a second trial for the April 2000 killing.
Llewellyn also ruled out indicting Constable Rohan Allen (no relation) on the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The highly anticipated decision comes a month-and-a-half after the London-based Privy Council dismissed the appeal filed by the slain girl's mother, Millicent Forbes, leaving the door open for the DPP to re-indict the acquitted cop.
In the written reasons for her decision yesterday, Llewellyn cited Section 20 (8) of the Constitution which states that "no person who shows that he has been tried by any competent court for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted, shall again be tried for that offence" except by order of a "superior court, made in appeal proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal".
Said the DPP: "In these circumstances, if the prosecution were to re-indict the accused it would lay a second indictment for murder. That indictment had already been laid and pleaded to in the first trial and the accused had been found not guilty, albeit upon the return of a formal verdict.
"Fraud not having been established as a matter of law and fact, then the prosecution could not seek to deprive the accused of his plea under the Constitution of autrefois acquit," she added.
She said that based on the material examined, "the Crown would not be able to resist the defence's submission in limine (at the commencement of the proceedings) that the indictment not be preferred as a matter of law or a submission of no case to answer".
Janice Allen was shot dead in what the police later said was a shoot-out with gunmen in Trench Town, Kingston on April 14, 2000.
The accused, Constable Allen, was later charged and tried but was freed in the Portland Circuit Court after the prosecution offered no evidence against him as evidence vital to the case - a station diary and a firearm registry in which is logged guns assigned to police officers - were destroyed in a fire at the Denham Town Police Station. The Crown also said that a policeman to whom Constable Allen made a statement during the investigation was overseas and was not likely to return to Jamaica.
Forbes, following the decision, then embarked upon a lengthy legal battle for justice which culminated in the March 19 Privy Council ruling.
While noting that civil proceedings by Janice Allen's family members have already been set in train, Llewellyn suggested, though not explicitly, that the "competent authorities, including the learned Attorney General", consider the option of cash award to the family for their suffering, as it was clear that Allen's death was caused by the bullet of a policeman's gun.
Friday, May 01, 2009
DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Paula Llewellyn yesterday ruled that the police officer acquitted of murdering 12-year-old Janice Allen should not be re-indicted, closing the door on any possibility of a second trial for the April 2000 killing.
Llewellyn also ruled out indicting Constable Rohan Allen (no relation) on the lesser charge of manslaughter.
The highly anticipated decision comes a month-and-a-half after the London-based Privy Council dismissed the appeal filed by the slain girl's mother, Millicent Forbes, leaving the door open for the DPP to re-indict the acquitted cop.
In the written reasons for her decision yesterday, Llewellyn cited Section 20 (8) of the Constitution which states that "no person who shows that he has been tried by any competent court for a criminal offence and either convicted or acquitted, shall again be tried for that offence" except by order of a "superior court, made in appeal proceedings relating to the conviction or acquittal".
Said the DPP: "In these circumstances, if the prosecution were to re-indict the accused it would lay a second indictment for murder. That indictment had already been laid and pleaded to in the first trial and the accused had been found not guilty, albeit upon the return of a formal verdict.
"Fraud not having been established as a matter of law and fact, then the prosecution could not seek to deprive the accused of his plea under the Constitution of autrefois acquit," she added.
She said that based on the material examined, "the Crown would not be able to resist the defence's submission in limine (at the commencement of the proceedings) that the indictment not be preferred as a matter of law or a submission of no case to answer".
Janice Allen was shot dead in what the police later said was a shoot-out with gunmen in Trench Town, Kingston on April 14, 2000.
The accused, Constable Allen, was later charged and tried but was freed in the Portland Circuit Court after the prosecution offered no evidence against him as evidence vital to the case - a station diary and a firearm registry in which is logged guns assigned to police officers - were destroyed in a fire at the Denham Town Police Station. The Crown also said that a policeman to whom Constable Allen made a statement during the investigation was overseas and was not likely to return to Jamaica.
Forbes, following the decision, then embarked upon a lengthy legal battle for justice which culminated in the March 19 Privy Council ruling.
While noting that civil proceedings by Janice Allen's family members have already been set in train, Llewellyn suggested, though not explicitly, that the "competent authorities, including the learned Attorney General", consider the option of cash award to the family for their suffering, as it was clear that Allen's death was caused by the bullet of a policeman's gun.
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