Cop on murder rap gets permission to travel

WESTERN BUREAU:

High Court Justice Leighton Pusey yesterday made an order for Constable Kenroy Hines to be temporarily given back his passport, following its seizure after he and another policemen were charged with murder in the 2013 shooting deaths of three family members in Shrewsbury, Westmoreland.

The order was made following an application by attorney Valerie Neita-Robinson when Hines and his co-defendant, Constable Damane Campbell, appeared before the Trelawny Circuit Court.

"I have an application for an order that Mr Hines' passport be returned to him for him to travel outside the jurisdiction," said Neita-Robinson. "He is on bail and has adhered to the conditions of his bail, and he is seeking to travel to the United States where his family resides."

After hearing the application, Justice Pusey ruled that Hines' passport be returned to him for the duration of his travel with a stipulation that it be handed back to the authorities on his return to the island.

"I am going to make the order for his passport to be made available to him on March 9 and for it to be returned on May 22," Pusey stated.

Hines and Campbell subsequently had their bails extended until November 5, when their trial is expected to begin during the next sitting of the Circuit Court. The two policemen are charged in connection with the deaths of brothers Andrew and Triston Brydson and their cousin, Kingsley Green, who were killed on March 15, 2013, in Shrewsbury, Westmoreland. Th e police allege that the three men engaged them in a gunfight and were all killed.

However, the police's account of the incident was strongly disputed by residents and relatives of the men, who staged several days of protest across three parishes.

C. T.