Published:Thursday | November 14, 2019 | 6:40 PM Barrett, Senior Staff Reporter
Two policemen who were assigned to the now disbanded Mobile Reserve unit were on Thursday convicted of the controversial killing of a man in central Kingston 10 years ago.
By majority decision, Constable Gareth Davis was convicted of murder while Constable Christobel Smith was found guilty of manslaughter by a seven-member jury in the Gun Court in downtown Kingston.
Gun Court cases are closed to the public.The victim, Omar Marshall, was shot nine times inside his yard at 16 Blake Road on October 9, 2009.
The two cops were part of a police team that went to the premises under the supervision of a superintendent. Eyewitnesses reportedly testified that Marshall was urinating at the fence in the front yard when the four cops entered, held him and dragged him to the back of the premises where he was shot by the convicted policemen.
One eyewitness insisted that Marshall did not have anything in his hands when he was shot and said he told the policemen he was preparing to go to the airport to meet his mother. The cops told him that his mother was coming to bury him before they each shot him, the witness reportedly testified.
The policemen claimed, in their defence, that they were patrolling in the area when they saw Marshall – who they did not know before – running from the roadway to the premises on Blake Road.
They said they chased him to the back of the premises where he turned to face them with a firearm in his hand. Both cops said they fired in self defence. A firearm, which was said to be in Marshall’s hand at the time, was handed over by the cops, a claim which was reportedly refuted by witnesses.
No comments:
Post a Comment