Tough-talking cop Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams, and five former members of the disbanded Crime Management Unit were accused of tampering with evidence at the death house in Crawle, on their first appearance in court to answer to murder charges.

As senior deputy director of public prosecutions, Paula Llewelyn, outlined the state’s preliminary case inside the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston, outside pro and anti-Adams demonstrators vied for attention.

Later, after Adams and his colleagues – Devon Bernard; Latrid Gordon; Roderick Collier; Shane Lyons; and Patrick Coke – were released on bail of $2 million each, Adams was mobbed in the fashion of a pop celebrity.

“We want Adams! Forbes must go!” a group of mostly women shouted, as the senior superintendent and his co-accused walked back to their vehicles a block away.

Adams cradled his wife closely.

Across the way, a handful of rival protesters, mainly from western Kingston, shouted insults at Adams.

“Him make dog eat the 27 people them a west. Him fi go a prison,” one angry woman shouted. This was a reference to the July 2001 events in West Kingston when 27 people, including a policeman and a soldier, were killed in a weekend of violence which the police said erupted when a police party, led by Adams, came under fire during a drug raid.

Adams and the police officers involved in that incident were vindicated by a commission of inquiry that was ridiculed by the Opposition.

Yesterday Adams appeared unperturbed by the residual anger over the West Kingston violence, particularly in the community of Tivoli Gardens.

“I love the people from Tivoli Gardens. I love the Jamaican people,” he told the Observer.

Earlier, at the Crawle hearing, Llewelyn told presiding judge, Justice Mahadev Dukharan, that the crown was armed with 131 statements from witnesses and eight reports from ballistics, forensics and pathological experts. Forensic tests done by overseas experts suggest that a spent shell from a Winchester rifle which the cops said they found in the house, was planted, she said.

“A detailed test done on the spent shell helped experts to opine that the shell was planted,” Llewelyn said yesterday.

The six policemen each face four counts of non-capital murder for the deaths of Lewena Thompson, Angela Richards, Kirk Gordon and Matthew James, but face death if convicted on two or more counts.

The victims were killed during a CMU operation in Crawle, Clarendon, last May ostensibly in search of extortionists and other criminals. The police claimed that they came under gunfire, which they returned.

The incident led to the disbanding of the CMU and an investigation of the killings by Scotland Yard and other foreign police organisations

The DPP last week ordered that murder charges be brought against Adams and his men and the police agreed that the arrests would take place yesterday at the Supreme Court.

At yesterday’s hearing, Llewelyn requested that a preliminary inquiry in a Resident Magistrate’s Court be abandoned and the case taken to the Home Circuit Court as the accused cops were arrested in Kingston.

“In respect of forensics, ballistics and resources it (a preliminary hearing) would be counter-productive,” Llewelyn said. The court agreed, and waived the preliminary trial.

The six policemen are to next appear in court on June 3.

They were ordered by the court to surrender their passports, keep away from Crawle, not to interfere with witnesses and report to the Police Commissioner’s office every Friday, between 8:00 am and 5:00 pm.

For one of the accused, Bernard, yesterday’s was his second recent appearance in court to be slapped with a murder charge. He is already facing seven non-capital murder charges in connection with the deaths of the seven youths killed in Braeton, St Catherine by members of the CMU in March 2002.

Llewelyn told the court that the prosecution had evidence that the four persons who died in the Crawle incident were all shot in the upper body and that the bullets were all fired from a distance of two to four metres.

The prosecutor also argued that the cops had colluded with each other to kill the four.

“The crown contends that the cumulative effect of the evidence suggests that there was a joint enterprise to kill these persons,” Llewelyn said.

A smartly-dressed Adams sat calmly throughout the proceedings as the prosecutor made her opening statements. Inside the courthouse, he was supported by his wife and one of his daughters.

Outside were the fans from all over the island – Hanover, Westmoreland, St Elizabeth, Spanish Town in St Catherine, the Corporate Area communities of Havendale, Maverly, Papine and Rae Town, and Port Antonio, Portland. The group had started gathering from about 7:00 am yesterday and carried photocopies of Adams’ picture published in last Tuesday’s Observer. During the hearing they could be heard shouting for the charismatic cop to be freed.

“We are willing to open an account to help him pay the lawyer fees,” one supporter said.