Police extortion trial begins, with cabbie-sex worker saga at centre
Published:Tuesday | April 26, 2022 | 12:11 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The trial of three policemen accused of extorting a taxi man of $50,000 after allegedly videotaping him engaging in what appeared to be a sexual act with a male sex worker started on Monday in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
The accused, Corporal Trevan Small and constables Jason Harris and Andrew Parchment, who were assigned to the Half-Way Tree Police Station, are being tried on charges of misconduct in a public office and breaches of the Corruption Prevention Act.
The main witness started his evidence-in-chief before Chief Parish Judge Chester Crooks, but it is being done in camera, reportedly on the request of the cabbie.
The defence, however, had objected, but the judge ruled that the two main witnesses, including the male prostitute, are to give their evidence out of the hearing of the public and the press.
The charges against the lawmen arose out of an incident that reportedly occurred on the night of July 31, 2019, in a parking lot in New Kingston.
According to the taxi man in his statement, on the day in question, about 8 p.m., he was in a St Andrew community when he was approached by the accused. The policemen reportedly told him they are aware that he was operating an illegal taxi and asked him what he could do for himself.
The taxi man claimed he told the policemen that he would have to continue working to accumulate the money and they left.
About 11 p.m., the taxi man reportedly got a call from one of the policemen asking him to meet them.
He complied and the policemen reportedly transported him to a New Kingston parking lot where they demanded that he pay them $50,000.
According to the cabbie, who claimed he did not have that sum, a cop called a gay sex worker who was passing and instructed him to put a condom on the taxi man’s organ.
It is alleged that the policemen recorded the act and ordered the cab driver to pay them or they would release the video.
The taxi man, in his statement, further claimed that he told them that he needed to go home for the money but could only find $3,000.
As a result, he said the policemen put him back in the car but he escaped and reported the matter.
The three accused were subsequently arrested and charged following a ruling from the director of public prosecutions.
They have, however, denied the allegations and are maintaining that the cab driver concocted the story after they caught him in a compromising position with the male sex worker.
A closed-circuit television recording that was captured on the night of the incident and was played on Monday in the trial showed the taxi man, however, arriving at the location on his own at 4:18 a.m. and the cops pulling up five minutes later.
The main witness is expected to be cross-examined by the defence attorneys today when the trial resumes.
Attorney-at-law Christopher Townsend is representing Small, while Shane Williams is representing Parchment. Harris is being represented by John Jacobs.