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The real issue is the law. Is there a law that requires that the DPP and only the DDP charge a cop with a crime?
I see that Terrence did what Christie the CG could not legally do. He got fed up and bypass the DPP where files and John Wayne in acting positions seems to stay in the same place for everver.
An INDECOM officer is constable and I feel Terrence pain but he needs to be careful, this constable thing dont seem to apply equally to people who are not members of the JCF.
A Custom Officer is a constable and the firearm act exempts constables from the act but Custon Officers are never armed the and act also has a section for custom officers. Why can't the custom officers inherit the same rights as a constable under the firearm act?
A Could a Custom Officer arrest and charge a cop with a breach of the Custom Act without going to the DPP?
BLUNDER? - Mix-up in Hill case puts INDECOM at odds with DPP
BY JANICE BUDD Associate Editor - Sunday buddj@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, February 27, 2011
BY JANICE BUDD Associate Editor - Sunday buddj@jamaicaobserver.com
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Commissioner Terrence Williams last night criticised the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for taking too long to rule on cases involving serious offences and defended the Independent Commission of Investigation's (INDECOM's) decision to take to court on Friday, a policeman charged with last year's shooting death of Negril hotelier Mickey Hill.
Williams was reacting to a Sunday Observer query about what was reported as a blunder by his office in prematurely charging Corporal Malica Reid, only to hear in court that the DPP, Paula Llewelyn, had not yet ruled on the case.
LLEWELLYN… has not yet issued a ruling
WILLIAMS… it would seem that rulings take months when they should ordinarily take days
LLEWELLYN… has not yet issued a ruling
LLEWELLYN… has not yet issued a ruling
WILLIAMS… it would seem that rulings take months when they should ordinarily take days
LLEWELLYN… has not yet issued a rulingIn defending his office's action — which he said was perfectly within his remit by law — Williams complained that this is yet another example of what happens when the DPP drags its feet on cases.
"The DPP's office takes far too long to make rulings. We have seen in the offices of INDECOM that we have got back rulings on files that were sent four years ago, three years ago," he said. "We have seen rulings that are a year-and-a-half. It would seem that rulings take months when they should ordinarily take days."
Additionally, he said if the investigative arm is going to always have to await these rulings, it will mean that the prosecution of these cases will always be delayed and suspects will get a chance to flee the jurisdiction before they are tried, something which he has found is not an uncommon occurrence.
"I tell you that right now there are over 20 officers that fled the jurisdiction when they were to be facing charges... Over the last few years, we have the statistics that there are over 20 officers who were to face charges," he asserted.
"INDECOM has someone such as myself who has been a prosecutor for many years and knows what is meant by a file being ready... it would be fool-hardy for us to sit around waiting months for this ruling when we know that the case is ready," he said.
He added that when the case was presented to the magistrate, the facts were enough to ensure that the policeman was denied bail so they were cogent facts and had merit.
Additionally, when his team went to court, he said, INDECOM's file was ready.
He noted that despite the news which has since emerged, he has still not been given notice of what happened in court when the case was stalled Friday, because the DPP file on the case had not been completed and handed over.
"Nobody called me from either the court or the DPP's office. All I have heard about what happened (in court) after is what I have heard in the press," said Williams.
Last night, the Sunday Observer tried without success to contact Llewellyn for a response.
However, Williams said he expects to get formal notification of what transpired in court and determine whether his office needs to take the matter to court.
He told the Sunday Observer that he did have dialogue with the DPP, prior to this matter arising, on the problem of that office taking an inordinate time to rule on cases.
"I wrote to her and I copied to her the list of cases and how long it took for us to get rulings, and I also asked them to please hurry up and do something with this matter, and I got no response," Williams said.
When asked how this set-back may affect public perception of the relatively new INDECOM and concerns that it may not have the powers to act as its mandate dictates, Williams was dismissive. He said the law is clear, and INDECOM acted properly.
"We have the power of a constable, which means we have the power to arrest and in this case we arrested on a warrant, so it's not even like we arrested on our own volition, we went before a JP," said the attorney.
He indicated that while he was certain it would not affect this particular case going to trial, the matter may be so serious as to warrant legal intervention.
"It may very well mean we will need a judicial review in court to sort it out," Williams said.
Yesterday, RJR and its sister television station TVJ reported on what seemed to have been a major oversight in the case involving the accused policeman.
Both stations reported Llewellyn as confirming that her office still had the case file and had been awaiting some documents which had now come into its possession. However, it has not yet issued a ruling on the matter.
Meanwhile, Jamaica Police Federation chairman, Sergeant Raymond Wilson, said he is to meet with lawyers tomorrow to discuss how to handle the apparent blunder in prematurely charging one of its members for the death of a civilian.
Asked by the Sunday Observer about the legal alternatives open to the Federation, Wilson said in a brief telephone interview last night: "We can't speak definitively about that which you are asking until when we meet further with our legal team Monday."
Corporal Reid, who was pointed out in an identification parade, was arrested and charged Friday with the shooting death of Hill by investigators from Indecom at the Savanna-la-Mar Police Station.
He subsequently appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Lyle Armstrong where he was remanded into custody. He is scheduled to return to court on March 1.
This was the first charge laid against a member of the security forces by INDECOM since it began operations on August 16, 2010.
"The investigators, with the assistance of the BSI (Bureau of Special Investigations) have been working tirelessly on the cases that have been taken over by INDECOM," Williams was quoted in yesterday's Observer.
"Significant progress has been made with other cases and it is our hope that we will be laying more charges in fatal shooting incidents in short order."
Additionally, he said if the investigative arm is going to always have to await these rulings, it will mean that the prosecution of these cases will always be delayed and suspects will get a chance to flee the jurisdiction before they are tried, something which he has found is not an uncommon occurrence.
"I tell you that right now there are over 20 officers that fled the jurisdiction when they were to be facing charges... Over the last few years, we have the statistics that there are over 20 officers who were to face charges," he asserted.
"INDECOM has someone such as myself who has been a prosecutor for many years and knows what is meant by a file being ready... it would be fool-hardy for us to sit around waiting months for this ruling when we know that the case is ready," he said.
He added that when the case was presented to the magistrate, the facts were enough to ensure that the policeman was denied bail so they were cogent facts and had merit.
Additionally, when his team went to court, he said, INDECOM's file was ready.
He noted that despite the news which has since emerged, he has still not been given notice of what happened in court when the case was stalled Friday, because the DPP file on the case had not been completed and handed over.
"Nobody called me from either the court or the DPP's office. All I have heard about what happened (in court) after is what I have heard in the press," said Williams.
Last night, the Sunday Observer tried without success to contact Llewellyn for a response.
However, Williams said he expects to get formal notification of what transpired in court and determine whether his office needs to take the matter to court.
He told the Sunday Observer that he did have dialogue with the DPP, prior to this matter arising, on the problem of that office taking an inordinate time to rule on cases.
"I wrote to her and I copied to her the list of cases and how long it took for us to get rulings, and I also asked them to please hurry up and do something with this matter, and I got no response," Williams said.
When asked how this set-back may affect public perception of the relatively new INDECOM and concerns that it may not have the powers to act as its mandate dictates, Williams was dismissive. He said the law is clear, and INDECOM acted properly.
"We have the power of a constable, which means we have the power to arrest and in this case we arrested on a warrant, so it's not even like we arrested on our own volition, we went before a JP," said the attorney.
He indicated that while he was certain it would not affect this particular case going to trial, the matter may be so serious as to warrant legal intervention.
"It may very well mean we will need a judicial review in court to sort it out," Williams said.
Yesterday, RJR and its sister television station TVJ reported on what seemed to have been a major oversight in the case involving the accused policeman.
Both stations reported Llewellyn as confirming that her office still had the case file and had been awaiting some documents which had now come into its possession. However, it has not yet issued a ruling on the matter.
Meanwhile, Jamaica Police Federation chairman, Sergeant Raymond Wilson, said he is to meet with lawyers tomorrow to discuss how to handle the apparent blunder in prematurely charging one of its members for the death of a civilian.
Asked by the Sunday Observer about the legal alternatives open to the Federation, Wilson said in a brief telephone interview last night: "We can't speak definitively about that which you are asking until when we meet further with our legal team Monday."
Corporal Reid, who was pointed out in an identification parade, was arrested and charged Friday with the shooting death of Hill by investigators from Indecom at the Savanna-la-Mar Police Station.
He subsequently appeared before Senior Resident Magistrate Lyle Armstrong where he was remanded into custody. He is scheduled to return to court on March 1.
This was the first charge laid against a member of the security forces by INDECOM since it began operations on August 16, 2010.
"The investigators, with the assistance of the BSI (Bureau of Special Investigations) have been working tirelessly on the cases that have been taken over by INDECOM," Williams was quoted in yesterday's Observer.
"Significant progress has been made with other cases and it is our hope that we will be laying more charges in fatal shooting incidents in short order."
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