PEOPLE'S National Party activist Milton "Tony" Welsh was remanded in custody yesterday when he appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Criminal Court on a charge of murder. He is scheduled to return to court next Tuesday, when his case will again be mentioned.

Welsh, a reputed area leader in Brandon Hill, St Andrew, was arrested after he turned himself into the police who questioned him in connection with the January 15 fatal stabbing of Damion Hussey in Golden Spring, St Andrew.

Hussey, 21, was set upon and beaten, allegedly by men returning from a PNP rally officially launching the presidential campaign of security minister Peter Phillips.

The incident was sparked by the stoning of buses returning from the rally. But Hussey's family said he was at home with his girlfriend when the stones were thrown. They said he went to his gate after hearing noise outside and was set upon, beaten and stabbed several times by an angry mob.

On January 30, Welsh turned himself in to the police, but refused to subject himself to an identification parade. He was subsequently slapped with the capital charge after a "confrontation identification parade" was held where two witnesses were taken to his prison cell and pointed him out as the man who stabbed Hussey in the chest several times.

Welsh's attorney Norma Linton QC, in her application for bail yesterday, told Senior Resident Magistrate Martin Gayle that the confrontation identification parade was questionable as Welsh was the only one wearing "Rasta locks" in his cell.

But the prosecution objected to the bail application and advised the court that witnesses in the case were in fear of their lives, and noted that if Welsh was released on bail it was a possibility that he will interfere with witnesses.

Resident Magistrate Gayle rejected the application and remanded him in custody until February 21, when the case will again be mentioned.

Trousers in Denim

Cream of the 'Crop'

Cheeky's World