(Jamaica Gleaner) The prosecution has dropped its case against the three policemen who were indicted on one count of murder in relation to the shooting death of Andrew Bisson in 2011.
Detective Corporal Kevin Adams, District Constable Howard Brown and Constable Carl Bucknor were then freed by the court.
The decision to drop the case was revealed by lead prosecutor Queen’s Counsel Caroline Hay yesterday in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston.
Earlier, the court rejected the statements given by a now-deceased witness.
Hay said that due to the ruling she does not believe that the crown’s remaining material would meet the prosecutorial threshold and therefore would not offer any further evidence.
Presiding judge Chief Justice Bryan Sykes subsequently directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict.
In his address to the jury, he said, “The Crown was always going to have a problem negating self-defence.”
He also dismissed the evidence given by the prosecution’s witness who admitted to giving the Independent Commission of Investigations a false name when he gave statements to the oversight body.
“Here is a gentleman who gave what we now know as a false name. This he did and maintained for six, seven years. When had he decide to come clean and give his real name? In the week that the matter is supposed to start, that’s when that action was taken,” Sykes said.
