Chucky gets life - Judge rebukes killer cop for tarnishing JCF
Published:Saturday | January 26, 2019 | 12:00 AM
If murder convict Collis ‘Chucky’ Brown should survive, he will be 93 years old before he becomes eligible for parole.
Brown was yesterday sentenced to life imprisonment at the downtown Kingston-based Home Circuit Court after being found guilty of three counts of murder, one count of wounding with intent, and one count of conspiracy to commit murder on November 15, 2018.
Brown, who was a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) for 21 years before being arrested and charged, reportedly conspired with other JCF members in Clarendon to form a so-called death squad aimed at eliminating suspected criminals in the central Jamaica parish.
The squad’s activities resulted in the death of Damoy ‘Gutty’ Dawkins along the Palmer’s Cross main road on January 10, 2009, and Dwayne Douglas and Andrew Fearon on December 13, 2012, on the Swansea main road, both in Clarendon.
‘EXTREME MORAL TURPITUDE’
Justice Vivene Harris described Brown’s actions as “extreme moral turpitude” and cast the attempt by the Jamaica Constabulary Force to cover up the murders as “particularly egregious”.
She said that it was repulsive that law enforcers sought to take the law into their own hands and described the killing of Douglas and Fearon as a contrived police fatal shooting riddled with deception, including the planting of guns and the concocting of statements.
Justice Harris further stated that the case brought the JCF and justice system into disrepute and that Brown should receive harsh punishment for snuffing out the lives of the victims.
Before the sentence was handed down, Brown’s attorney, Norman Godfrey, asked Justice Harris for leniency, citing that his client was not one from whom the society needed protection and, therefore, should not be imprisoned for an inordinately long time. He suggested that rehabilitation was suitable punishment.
Brown was subsequently sentenced to eight years for conspiracy to commit murder, life imprisonment with eligibility for parole after 20 years for the murder of Dawkins, and 15 years for wounding with intent of a Crown witness. These will be served concurrently.
He was also sentenced to 31 years for the murder of Dwayne Douglas and Andrew Fearon, respectively, both of which will be served concurrently. This sentence will, however, be served after Brown has served at least 20 years for the first set of sentences.