-leader of patrol unit
A police witness yesterday testified that no order was given to the policemen on patrol to shoot when they responded to a report at the Patentia Secondary School on the day student Kelvin Fraser was fatally shot.
Inspector Ramesh Singh made this disclosure while giving evidence in the trial of Quancy John, the policeman accused of the fatal shooting of 16-year-old Fraser in 2010. Singh said the police patrol group had received information about young men interfering with girls at the school. Singh, the officer-in-charge of the patrol, said he gave orders to effect arrests but never an order to fire. He said when he arrived at the scene, he saw five persons escaping the scene.
John is on trial before Justice Franklyn Holder and a 12-member jury in the High Court.
John’s lawyer, Glenn Hanoman asked Singh if a policeman was justified to shoot if someone was trying to take away his weapon and Singh replied yes but stated that it “depended on the circumstances.”
Hanoman then asked if a gun being taken away by a 16-year-old could be as dangerous as a gun being snatched by an adult. However, state attorney Diana Kaulesar objected to his question, while stating that he was demanding that the witness give an opinion. She said it was obvious that the strength of 16-year-old would be less than that of an adult. “The opinion of the witness is being sought and the witness is not an expert,” she said. Her objection was upheld by Justice Holder.
Hanoman then asked the witness if he ever “heard of reports of young boys shooting big guns though?” He also asked that if the gun which was handed to John was defective. Singh denied this but said if a defective gun is handed out it could have serious implications to the rank with the gun.
John was committed to stand trial in 2012 by Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Wales Magistrate’s Court.
John, 34, of 325 Kuru Kuru, Linden-Soesdyke Highway, was charged with the murder of 16-year-old Fraser.
John was charged after weeks of public outcry and protests by secondary school students in front of the Wales Police Station.
The trial continues today.
