‘Chucky’ Brown Trial Recap | Witness recounts incriminating interviews with accused
Published:Sunday | October 14, 2018 | 12:00 AMNickoy Wilson/Gleaner Writer
The trial of Collis 'Chucky' Brown will resume today when the investigator, who is said to have used a covert recording device to capture the first interview between Brown and the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), is expected to testify.
The Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston last week heard the eye-opening details of interviews INDECOM had with murder accused police Constable Collis 'Chucky' Brown.
Last Tuesday, Assistant Commissioner for INDECOM, Hamish Campbell, told the court that Brown admitted to being part of a police squad involved in the shooting and killing of people when they met at a popular hotel in Mandeville, Manchester, on August 6, 2013.
Campbell also testified that Brown was especially upset about how he was being treated by the police force.
"He was frustrated with the police command and upset about how he had been treated in respect to one particular shooting," he said, citing a fatal shooting at May Pen Hospital in 2013.
As the prosecution continued its examination of Campbell last Wednesday, it was revealed that Brown named a senior cop within the Clarendon Police Division who he said supplied a car, M16 rifles and ordinary handguns to the 'special' police squad to carry out the alleged extrajudicial killings.
It was also said that Brown told INDECOM how the May Pen police went about covering up the shootings carried out by the 'special' police squad.
FABRICATING EVIDENCE
"He said they (special police squad members) would bring guns and would plant them. They would make up their evidence back at the station (May Pen) with the CIB (Criminal Investigations Branch) to ensure that their stories were the same and would explain shootings," Campbell testified.
During the cross-examination of the witness, attorney Norman Godfrey, who is representing Brown, suggested that INDECOM made his client an offer of amnesty in exchange for information.
Campbell denied the assertion, saying that Brown told them during the interview that a former Jamaica Constabulary Force senior cop had advised that his best option was for he and his family to leave the country.
Godfrey continued to make the suggestion as the trial continued into Thursday, but Campbell remained obstinate.
"There is no possibility of my being able to offer such a promise to anyone. It was not in my capacity to do so," Campbell testified.
Godfrey also suggested that Campbell was anxious to prove himself, having joined INDECOM just over a month before Brown made contact with the oversight body.
In response, Campbell said that he had nothing to prove, asserting that he had been recruited to ensure that investigations were properly and professionally carried out.
BROWN NOT BEING TREATED UNFAIRLY
The prosecution called investigator at INDECOM, Neville Edwards, to the stand.
He testified that he was present at the meeting held with Brown at the INDECOM head office on August 10, 2013.
Responding to the prosecution's questions, he said Brown was not treated unfairly, nor was he made any offer of amnesty while at the meeting.
He also denied the claim by Godfrey that there was disregard for his client's health when he is said to have complained about a migraine while giving his statement.
Meanwhile, the doctor who carried out the autopsy on Robert 'Gutty' Dawkins told the court that the deceased received three shots, with the one that entered his lower rib and lodging in this right mid-neck causing his death.
A human-rights activist also testified last week that Brown met with a prominent human-rights group between 2012 and 2013 to seek asylum for himself and his family.
Brown, who has been in custody since 2014, has been indicted on five charges stemming from the January 10, 2009, murder of Robert 'Gutty' Dawkins and the December 13, 2012, murders of Dwayne Douglas and Andrew Fearon.
He is facing three murder charges, one charge of wounding with intent and one charge of conspiracy to commit murder.