Jamaican Police.Com

Three policemen – an inspector of police and two constables – have been acquitted of murder in the Home Circuit Court, after the prosecution was forced to offer no evidence against them. A formal verdict of not guilty was entered in favour of the men due to the absence of the Crown’s main witness, and also due to the fact that the said witness had given contradicting statements to investigators regarding the circumstances surrounding the June 2005 fatal shooting of Duran ‘Patel’ Blake.

Inspector Lloyd Wilson and constables Derrick Roach and Jermaine Bennett, all previously assigned to the Central Police Station, were charged with murder for the fatal shooting of Blake in premises along Ransford Road in downtown Kingston. They asserted that they went in search of Blake, and were forced to defend themselves after being fired upon by him. At the time of his demise, Blake was wanted on a number of charges, including murder.

One of the witness’ statements reportedly substantiated the defendants’ version of how Blake met his demise, while the missing witness (who happened to be  Blake’s common-law wife), did not say in her statements that she witnessed the actual shooting incident. As a result of these factors, the Crown noted that the case could not be tried by way of the Evidence Amendment Act (which allows trials to proceed on the written statements of absent eyewitnesses), and noted that it therefore had no evidence against the men.

Tags : Derrick Roach, Duran 'Patel' Blake, Duran Blake, Jermaine Bennett, Lloyd Wilson, Not Guilty, Policemen Acquitted