Man freed of ammunition charge after policeman admits to lying in station diary entries

A policeman who admitted to being dishonest in entries he made in a station diary was severely castigated by a judge on Monday.

This after the lawyers representing the accused called for the judge to stop the case immediately because of revelations of dishonesty under cross-examination.

Freed was 25-year-old labourer Nico Hines of Grants Pen, St Andrew who was charged with illegal possession of 51 rounds of ammunition.

The policeman, who was the sole witness for the prosecution, was being cross-examined by King's Counsel Peter Champagnie and attorney-at-law Samoi Campbell when he admitted to being dishonest in his testimony.

In his evidence in the Gun Court, the policeman said that during a raid, the ammunition was found in the ceiling of Hines' bedroom on April 3 this year.

He said also that a magazine casing was found in another section of the ceiling after an additional search was conducted.

Under cross-examination, Champagnie confronted the policeman with station diary entries that were made by him.

It was stated in the entries that the magazine casing was found in a tenement yard near a fowl coop.

It was noted in another diary entry that the casing was found buried in the yard.

When pressed further by Champagnie as to whether the entries in the diary were true, the policeman said they were untrue.

He said he was forced by another policeman to make the false entries.

Questioned further by Champagnie as to whether he would agree that knowingly making a false entry in a station diary was dishonest, the witness admitted it was dishonest.

Hines had maintained from his arrest that he was innocent.

He claimed that the police found the ammunition and magazine casing buried in the tenement yard and he knew nothing about them.

Justice Vaughn Smith, in upholding the call by the defence lawyers for the case to be stopped, remarked that the policeman's evidence was left in tatters at the end of the cross-examination.

The judge said what occurred in court was an embarrassing moment for honest members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force.

Champagnie said today that if Hines was convicted based on the new Firearms law he would have been facing 15 to 20 years in prison.

“This case once again demonstrates the necessity for systems to be implemented to deal with members of the JCF who are dishonest,” Champagnie emphasised.

- Barbara Gayle

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