More delays hit Kamoza Clarke case

WESTERN BUREAU:

The case against three police officers who are facing manslaughter charges in relation to the 2014 beating death of Trelawny resident Kamoza Clarke will now go into a sixth year as the matter was yesterday rescheduled for June 9 next year. This latest delay in the much-anticipated trial of Sergeant Derrick Henry and District Constables Onecko Brown and Alwayne Eccleston is to facilitate a medical procedure which is to be done on Henry. High Court Justice Lorna-Shelly Williams set the latest trial date during Wednesday’s mention of the case in the Trelawny Circuit Court. Her decision came after Linton Gordon, the attorney representing Henry, told the court that his client is slated to undergo surgery shortly. “I obtained a medical certificate from the Cornwall Regional Hospital saying that Mr Henry is scheduled to do a surgery,” explained Gordon. “Can we agree on a trial date for next year June? We pray he (Henry) will be well long before that.”

“I will issue a warrant and stay it for him (Henry),” the judge said in accepting Gordon’s submission.

BAIL ADJUSTED

Another defendant benefited from a submission to the judge. Brown had his bail conditions adjusted to allow him to report to the Ulster Spring Police Station instead of the Falmouth Police Station, where he had previously been reporting. Henry, Brown and Eccleston, who all had their bails extended, were arrested and charged after Kamoza Clarke died in hospital on February 25, 2014, four months after the alleged beating at the Falmouth Police Station in Trelawny on October 20, 2013, which left him in a vegetative state. Clarke, who was 31 years old at the time of his death, was mentally challenged. His death triggered protests from several human-rights groups, including Amnesty International and Families Against State Terrorism. Henry, Brown, and Eccleston were initially charged with murder, but the charges were later downgraded to manslaughter. Two other policemen, District Constables Desmond Lawrence and Tristan Turner, were charged with neglect of duty in relation to the incident.