Jamaican Police.Com

Constable Gregory Givans, who had been convicted (in April 2008) of an assault charge and sentenced to six months imprisonment, has been freed by the Court of Appeal.

Givans was charged with assault occasioning actual bodily harm following an incident at the Mountain View Police Station in February 2005 where a motorist accused Givans of kicking him in the face. Givans had claimed that it was another policeman who had actually assaulted the motorist, and even provided the policeman’s name and badge number. However, when the case was being tried in 2008, the motorist (while he was in the dock ) pointed out Givans as being the man who assaulted him. Givans was eventually found guilty and convicted.

He then appealed on grounds that the dock identification was flawed, because it was three years after the alleged incident that he was actually pointed out in court. The Court of Appeal, comprising Justices Howard Cooke, Hazel Harris and Dennis Morrison, upheld the submissions yesterday and quashed the conviction.

Tags : assault charge, Gregory Givans, police assault, policeman freed, wrongly accused