DNA identifies alleged culprit in Irwin Point rape
Published:Thursday | September 25, 2014 | 6:26 PMAdrian Frater
Western Bureau:
Just UNDer two years after DNA evidence exonerated brothers Kerron and Sheldon Brissett as perpetrators in the brutal 2012 rape of five females, including an eight-year-old girl, at Irwin Point in St James, the 'exact science' has now positively identified another man as the culprit.
Patrick Green, who was arrested and charged after the Brissett brothers were freed, was positively identified yesterday, as his DNA matched samples investigators had found at the scene of the brutal rape, which drew widespread condemnation.
"The laboratory where the testing was done has just informed us that the DNA taken from Patrick Green matched the DNA that was found at the Irwin Point rape scene," Assistant Commissioner of Police Warren Clarke, the commanding officer for Area One, which spans Trelawny, St James, Hanover and Westmoreland, told The Gleaner late yesterday afternoon.
IMPLICATED INOTHER CASES
The DNA result has also implicated Green, who was already in custody, in other unsolved rapes cases in western Jamaica, also in cases in Clarendon and other parts of the island, said ACP Clarke.
"Based on what we are seeing, he definitely appears to be a serial rapist," he said.
The collective consciousness of the nation was shaken shortly after 10:30 p.m. on the night of September 24, 2012, when armed thugs invaded a home in Irwin Point and forced four adult female and a child into a nearby open lot. All five were sexually assaulted in a two-hour ordeal, which resulted in the hospitalisation of the child.
In the aftermath, the Brissett brothers were arrested and charged. However, in declaration of their innocence, they voluntarily offered their DNA for testing. After almost a year behind bars, the DNA result failed to place them at the crime scene.
Despite the DNA results, the prosecution indicated to the court that it would still be proceeding with the case against the brothers, who were also charged with illegal possession of firearm, arising from the same incident.
However, on July 22, 2013, the brothers finally walked free from the Western Regional Gun Court after being found not guilty by Justice Evan Brown. The range of charges they faced included rape, burglary, sexual touching, grievous sexual assault and unlawful wounding.
With Green now identified by DNA and formally charged, a date will soon be set for the start of his trial. It is expected that he will face the same charges that were levelled against the Brissett brothers.