Deposition of dead witness who tried to bail Mario Deane read in court

The trial of Mario Deane case continues today as the Westmoreland Circuit Court heard the evidence from the deposition statement of a now-deceased witness who had tried to bail Deane out of police custody on August 3, 2014, the day he was beaten at the Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay, St James.

The witness' deposition was read to the jury as part of the prosecution's evidence in the ongoing trial of Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant, who are charged in relation to Deane's death following the beating incident.

The prosecution successfully applied to the trial judge, High Court Justice Courtney Daye, for the deposition to be read to the jury due to the witness having died prior to the start of the trial, in keeping with the Evidence Act.

In the deposition, which was previously recorded in 2015, the witness testified that he came to bail Deane after receiving a telephone call on August 3, 2014. He submitted a bail bond paper and a photograph to Stewart, the officer on duty at the Barnett Street lock-up at the time, to facilitate the bail process.

The witness further stated that he tried to silence Deane when the latter made a remark about the police, at which point Stewart returned the documents to him and instructed him to come back later. According to the witness, when he returned a few hours later, he was told that Deane had been beaten.

Meanwhile, the prosecution told the court that arrangements are to be made to secure the testimony of the pathologist who conducted the post-mortem examination. That testimony is to be done via the Zoom platform, as the witness is overseas.

The trial was subsequently adjourned until Tuesday, March 25.

Stewart, Clevon, and Grant are charged with manslaughter, misconduct in a public office, and taking steps to pervert the course of justice, under allegations that they were on duty at the Barnett Street Police Station lock-up on August 3, 2014, at the time when Deane was beaten while in custody. Deane died at hospital three days later.

It is also alleged that Stewart, the senior officer on duty, ordered the cleaning of the cell where the beating took place before investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations arrived.

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