Jackson presses JCF on unsolved murder at ex-attorney’s home

Opposition lawmaker Fitz Jackson on Tuesday criticised the Police High Command over the unsolved 2016 murder of a man whose body was discovered in the now-disbarred attorney-at-law Patrick Bailey’s Barbican, St Andrew, home.

The senior lawmen, including Police Commissioner Major General Antony Anderson, were before Parliament’s Internal and External Affairs Committee, where Jackson warned that a message was being sent of there being two Jamaicas.

The case resurfaced after both Anderson and Fitz Bailey, the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in charge of the crime portfolio, noted that the police had managed to achieve an “unprecedented” clear-up rate of over 725 murder cases within a year.

“You have a couple famous non-clear up ones like the Germaine Junior murder in Barbican,” Jackson said in response to the figure.

“Let me tell you why I keep reminding [you of] the significance of it. As we seek to improve this country, one of our responsibilities – as a Parliament and all of us in leadership – is to seek to ensure that we don’t crystalise or solidify in the ordinary Jamaican’s mind that there [are] two Jamaicas when it comes to crime and the resolution of murders,” he added.

Jackson asserted that the High Command “knows very well” the issue with the murder case in which no one has been held accountable despite the circumstances surrounding the homicide.

Bailey, a prominent attorney at the time, told the police that he stumbled upon Junior’s body on the couch in his living room in the wee hours of September 30, 2016.

The body had more than a dozen stab wounds and a single gunshot wound to the right side of the head.

The lawyer, who, according to preliminary reports, slept through the brutal slaying, was immediately ruled out as a suspect.

The police had reported that there was no sign of forced entry.

Attorney Bailey’s doctor, the late Jephthah Ford, ordered bed rest after he was called to the scene by an assistant commissioner of police, who said that the attorney appeared to be unwell.

He gave a statement to the police two weeks later.

On Tuesday, the deputy commissioner stressed that the police operate on evidence.

DCP Bailey said that he was aware of the incident, which pre-dated his appointment to the portfolio, but noted that the police could not “manufacture evidence”.

“We go by the investigative process. We use all the available resources to determine if a crime has been committed. You can just go so far and no more as an investigative body. I know that is a hot topic, but the facts are just the facts, and we can’t go beyond the facts,” Bailey argued.

Still, Jackson pressed the issue, calling Bailey’s answer “perfect”, while, at the same time, pointing out that the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s “non-success” in these instances raised eyebrows within the population.

He also pointed to a murder in Mandeville, Manchester, a few years ago, which is believed to have occurred in the presence of prominent officials.

“Not one report of any arrest. The person was shot and killed in a house in Mandeville … . No one, to date, has been charged for that murder. Then you have the one now in Barbican, and there is alleged relationship with other murders,” he charged.

Jackson said that he was “a bit distressed” after speaking with the brother of the deceased, who noted that nothing would come of Junior’s case because of the circumstances.

“Issues like these we can’t allow to die or just roll under the carpet,” said Jackson, who added that nothing in law prevented the police from giving updates on the case.

In response, DCP Bailey said that there have been several case reviews of the Barbican murder and that there have been specific assignments given.

“For us, we want to be transparent. It doesn’t matter who the person is, and I can speak for the commissioner, if I may, that we carry no brief for anyone. If you have committed an offence against the State, our duty as police officers is to search for the evidence and ensure that justice is done,” said Bailey.

He stopped short of disclosing that the police had exhausted all avenues in the case but said that the case remained active.

He called on the public to assist the police with any information it may have.

kimone.francis@gleanerjm.com