Ruling on no-case submission looms in Mario Deane case

WESTERN BUREAU:

The case against three members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, who are facing charges in relation to the 2014 beating death of Mario Deane, is slated to continue in the St James Parish Court on April 20 when a ruling is expected to be given concerning a no-case submission by the defendants' lawyers.

Corporal Elaine Stewart and District Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant, who have been undergoing a preliminary hearing in the case, had their bails extended when they appeared before presiding parish judge Sandria Wong-Small, recently.

Attorney-at-law Martyn Thomas, who is representing Grant, told The Gleaner that the prosecution submitted arguments in response to the defence team's no-case submission, which had previously been presented to the court.

"The prosecution served a response to the no-case submission, so now the judge is going to consider the response and possibly give her verdict on the next date," said Thomas.

Beaten in lock-up

Stewart, Clevon, and Grant are charged with manslaughter, misconduct in a public office, and perverting the course of justice arising from allegations that they were on duty at the time when Mario Deane was allegedly beaten by other inmates in a cell at the Barnett Street police lock-up in Montego Bay on August 3, 2014.

In the incident, Deane was beaten into a state of unconsciousness. He died three days later at the Cornwall Regional Hospital without regaining consciousness.

Stewart, the most senior of the police trio, is alleged to have given instructions for the cell in which the fatal beating took place to be cleaned before the arrival of investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations.

The case's progression has been hampered on several occasions by issues including the failure of witnesses to appear in court to give evidence.