Three firefighters who were accused of stealing items from the site where a Fly Jamaica plane crash landed at Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA), Timehri, almost two years ago, have been freed of the charge after a court upheld no-case submissions made by their attorneys earlier this week.
Aubrey Frank of Kuru Kururu, Linden-Soesdyke Highway; Jamie Kingston, of D’Urban Street, Lodge and Roiden Kennedy, of Timehri, East Bank Demerara (EBD) were accused of having under their control articles reasonably suspected to have been stolen on November 9, 2018 at CJIA.
They were charged before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. The trio denied the allegation and were placed on $100,000 bail each.
Principal Magistrate Judy Latchman conducted their trial at the Providence Magistrate’s Court.
Attorney Eusi Anderson represented Kingston while the two other accused were represented by attorneys Leslie Sobers and Asa Stuart-Shepherd.
Anderson told Stabroek News that the trio were found not guilty on Wednesday after the magistrate upheld no-case submissions made by the lawyers.
According to Anderson, during the trial, the prosecution failed to present any evidence linking the trio to the crime.
He said the items which were said to be stolen were not presented to the court. “They didn’t bring any of those things. What they attempted to do was to bring photographs of it. I got those photographs excluded from evidence,” he noted.
Anderson added that no fingerprint analysis was even conducted.
In addition to the men being freed, Anderson said that they are to be reinstated.
Following the incident, the men were interdicted from duty and were being paid half of their respective salaries.
Now that they are cleared, Anderson explained, the law allows for them to be reinstated and also paid the remainder of their salaries from the intervening period. “When you are interdicted from duties at the end of the cause for your interdiction…..we have to be paid the difference of the half pay and/or reinstated,” he noted.
“…The reinstatement is a matter of rights. They have to be reinstated because nothing has been proven against them but the monies have to be paid….So they have to be paid for about 18 months plus half,” he added.
The case was prosecuted by police prosecutor Gordon Mansfield.
Fly Jamaica’s Boeing 757 aircraft, destined for Toronto, Canada, crash-landed at CJIA after the encountering hydraulic issues shortly after takeoff. No serious injuries were reported.
The plane took off around 2.10 am. However, at 2.21 am, the pilot and co-pilot indicated that there were some hydraulic problems and requested permission to return. It was noted that permission was granted and after spending an estimated 43 minutes in the air they were able to land the plane.
The aircraft, however, overshot the open runway and veered to a closed section, resulting in damage to the right wing and propeller. The plane was immediately evacuated.
Shortly after the incident, the firemen who were on duty at the site were accused of removing personal items belonging to the crew and passengers of the aircraft.
A total of 12 firemen were arrested for questioning. While the trio was charged, the others were released based on legal advice received by the police.
A fourth fireman, Collis Williams of Coverden, East Bank Demerara, was charged separately for stealing an iPhone, valued US$350, equivalent to GY$70,000 and a Samsung Galaxy S4 cellphone, valued at US$380, equivalent to GY $76,000, which were the property of Basil Ferguson. This newspaper could not verify if that case is still pending.
