The accused in the murder of Festival City resident Christopher Wharton was charged yesterday in a city court, where he claimed he was brutalised by police ranks.
Rickford Jones, of Lot 3093 North Ruimveldt, was apprehended by police last Thursday along the East Bank corridor in a bus bound for Linden. It was reported by Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum that the man confessed to the crime.
Jones, also known as ‘Jonesy,’ was read the charge which stated that on November 18, at Festival City, North Ruimveldt, while in the company of another, he murdered Christopher Wharton called “Taps” or “Chrissy.” The accused, who was represented by attorney Keziah Williams, appearing in association with attorney Nigel Hughes, was not required to plead to the indictable charge.
Williams, in making submissions to the court, claimed that the accused had been assaulted by police and that ranks at the CID headquarters and Diamond Police Station had rejected evidence to support the defence’s claim. The evidence she referred to was an article of clothing belonging to the accused that was bloodstained following the alleged altercation between him and the police ranks.
According to Williams, Jones had been tasered and stomped in the stomach several times, which can be substantiated by a medical examination that was conducted after the report of the matter.
Prosecutor Stephen Telford rejected the claims made by the defence, while countering that according to the medical report in the possession of the police, Jones did not have any injuries at the time the examination took place.
After both parties had made their respective submissions, Magistrate Fabayo Azore addressed the defence’s claims by stating that the court does not take the allegation of assault lightly. She added that investigations into the claims would have to be conducted.
The magistrate then ordered that Jones be remanded to prison until December 8, when the matter will be recalled.
Wharton was shot-execution style last Wednesday on the stairs of his North Ruimveldt home in what police believe to be a drug-related crime.
The murder, which was captured on CCTV cameras, was carried out by two men who rode up to the house on bicycles. The deceased, who was shot three times about the body, including once to the abdomen, succumbed within an hour of being taken to the hospital. His son, five-year-old Nashan Wharton, who was seen exiting the house and running down the stairs seconds after his father was shot, received a gunshot wound to his foot.
