DEANE... died three days after being brutally beaten in a police lock-up on August 3, 2014
Cop admits giving incorrect testimony
SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — A police corporal, who was stationed at the Barnett Street lock-up when Mario Deane was murdered, admitted under cross-examination on Thursday that his testimony that day was different from statements he made in court in 2016.
Corporal Orville Williams, who is now stationed at the Anchovy Police Station in St James, is the Crown’s third witness to take the stand in the case now being heard in the Westmoreland Circuit Court. The discrepancy surrounds whether Deane had an argument with a corporal on duty in the processing area of the Barnett Street Station. It was also in dispute whether Corporal Williams went over to them to make inquiries, as suggested when he testified in the St James Parish Court in 2016.
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From the stand on Thursday, Corporal Williams also admitted that while he gave evidence about the case in the St James Resident Magistrate’s Court a few years ago, he did not remember signing a transcript of what he said in court then.
Defence lawyer Martyn Thomas, who represents two of the cops on trial — Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constable Marlon Grant — asked Corporal Williams if he wanted assistance in remembering. Williams answered in the affirmative; however, the Crown objected. Following a ruling by Supreme Court Judge Justice Courtney Daye, Corporal Williams was shown a copy of the document that had his signature affixed at the bottom of all four pages. The document was dated 12/4/2016.
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Corporal Williams admitted that the signature seen on the document belongs to him.
“Do you agree that what you told the judge in 2016 in Montego Bay is different from what you are telling us today about what happened between Mario Deane and Constable [name withheld]?” asked Thomas.
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Corporal Williams replied in the affirmative.
“Which version is correct?” questioned Thomas.
“The one I told in 2016,” Corporal Williams replied.
The other cop on trial is Constable Juliana Clevon, who is represented by attorney Dalton Reid. All three cops are charged with manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, and misconduct in a public office.
The allegations are that Deane was arrested for possession of a ganja spliff and placed in custody, where he was brutally beaten on August 3, 2014. He received severe injuries to his brain, which left him in a coma. He died three days later at Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James.
It is alleged that the three cops were on duty at the police station at the time when Deane was beaten. It is further alleged that Corporal Stewart instructed that the cell in which the attack took place be cleaned before the arrival of investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations.
On Thursday, during cross-examination from Thomas, Corporal Williams told the court that on August 3, when Deane was offered bail, he seemed flustered. The cop said though Deane’s tone of voice conveyed annoyance he was still going to offer bail but Deane needed a surety.
The case resumes next Tuesday at 10:00 am.
