Girlfriend of slain escapee for court February 24

WESTERN BUREAU:

A St James woman said to be the girlfriend of one of six inmates who escaped from the Freeport lock-up in Montego Bay last November had her bail extended when she appeared before the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Trudy-Ann Stephens is charged with harbouring a fugitive, after she was reportedly seen leaving premises in the company of escapee Benjamin Stephenson on December 11, 2015. She is to make her next court appearance on February 24.

Resident Magistrate Sandria Wong-Small gave Stephens the new court date after it was revealed that two statements were still outstanding from the prosecution's case file. The magistrate also ordered Stephens to submit her fingerprints to the police.

The allegations against Stephens are that on December 11, 2015, a police team carried out an operation in the Spring Mount community in search of the six escapees, when they saw Stephenson and Stephens leaving a house together.

Stephenson, who was facing a murder charge at the time of the jailbreak, was subsequently killed in a shoot-out with the police.

Stephens, while being taken into custody afterwards, reportedly said under caution, "Mi nuh have nothing more to say. Everything is in my statement."

Stephenson and the other five detainees - Shaniel Luton, Kelvin Hodges, Randy Murray, Marcus Robinson, and Gregory Roberts - were discovered missing from their cells at the Freeport Police Station on the morning of November 30, 2015, prompting a massive manhunt to recapture them. Murray and Roberts were later recaptured, while the other men remain at large.