(Jamaica Gleaner) A Jamaican policeman who is accused of murdering 18-year-old Ravin Thompson in July 2007 has been ordered to be extradited from the United States to face trial.
He is Mark St. Aubyn Russell for whom an arrest warrant was issued in Jamaica on June 8, 2009. The Government under the Extradition Treaty between the United States and Jamaica had applied for Russell to be extradited.
Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn had made a ruling in 2009 for Russell and another policeman to be charged with Thompson’s murder.
Russell had left the island before the ruling was made and a request was made for his extradition.
Russell had challenged his extradition on several grounds but on September 19, a court in New York ordered him sent back to Jamaica.
He is expected to appeal the extradition order.
Llewellyn yesterday commended the extradition unit in her office for the manner in which it handled the matter.
Shot in shoulder
Thompson was shot at his aunt’s gate in Whitfield Town, St Andrew, and subsequently died.
According to his relatives, Thompson was shot in the shoulder and subsequently placed in a police jeep to be taken to the hospital. His aunt, who went in the jeep with him, claimed she was put out of the vehicle in the vicinity of Maxfield Avenue. She said she later made her way to the Kingston Public Hospital where she saw her nephew’s body in the back of the police jeep. He had been shot multiple times and had several bones fractured.
