More delays hit Mario Deane case

WESTERN BUREAU:

Marvin Orr and Adrian Morgan, the two inmates charged with murder arising from the 2014 death of Mario Deane, will have to wait until next Wednesday to know the status of the case against them.

When Orr and Morgan appeared before presiding High Court Justice Vivienne Harris, in the St James Circuit Court, it was revealed that the defendants' long-awaited psychiatric reports had not been submitted in time for the court sitting.

"We have been informed that the reports are ready, but we haven't received them," Harris told Orr's defence attorney, Trevor Ho Lyn. "From instructions received, the documents were sent to a particular location, but we don't know what happened afterward."

The explanation about the report did not sit well with Ho Lyn, who raised concerns about the handling of the report.

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"It can't be that you make a report and then send it all over the place," said Ho Lyn. "Facilities exist where you can email it now, and too often the issue of reports is a problem."

Psychiatric reports were previously prepared indicating that Orr and Morgan, who are both mentally challenged, were fit to plea. However, under the Criminal Justice Administration Act, two sets of psychiatric reports are needed ahead of the defendants' fitness-to-plea hearing.

Orr and Morgan were arrested and charged following the death of Mario Deane, who was brutally beaten while in custody at the Barnett Street Police Station on August 3, 2014. He died in hospital three days later.

A third defendant, Damion Cargill, was charged alongside Orr and Morgan, but was later deemed mentally unfit to stand trial and was released into his family's custody.

Three police officers were also charged in connection with the case, and will appear in the Circuit Court on September 18.