Cops in Kamoza Clarke case to return to court August 17
Published:Monday | July 20, 2015 | 12:00 AMChristopher Thomas
Western Bureau:
The five policemen charged in connection with the death of Kamoza Clarke will make their next appearance in the Clark's Town Resident Magistrate's Court in Trelawny on August 17.
District constables Alwayne Eccleston and Onecko Brown and Sergeant Derrick Henry are charged with murder in connection with Clarke's death, while district constables Desmond Lawrence and Tristan Turner are charged with neglect of duty, after Clarke was badly beaten while in police custody in 2013.
Their bail was extended when they appeared before presiding magistrate Ruth Lawrence on Monday, after it was revealed that a new clerk of court had been given conduct of the case.
"We have a new clerk of court and she is in possession of a voluminous file. We have had words with the clerk, and if we adjourn the matter to August 17, that should give the clerk enough time to fix a date in this matter," said attorney-at-law Ronald Parris, who is part of the five cops' defence team.
The court was also told that Henry had settled his legal representation and that attorney-at-law Oswest Senior-Smith would officially represent him in relation to the case against him.
Subsequently, the magistrate extended bail for Eccleston, Brown and Henry, while the case against Lawrence and Turner was also set for mention on that date.
The charges against the five cops stem from allegations that they were involved in an attack on Clarke on October 20, 2013, while he was in the lock-up at the Falmouth Police Station. Clarke, who sustained injuries from the beating, subsequently died while at hospital.