Mario Deane's mother retakes witness stand, talks about receiving his bloodstained pants

The prosecution in the ongoing Mario Deane trial today made two failed attempts to show a pair of pants, which had previously been admitted into evidence, to Deane's mother Mercia Fraser when she retook the witness stand in the Westmoreland Circuit Court.

During today's hearing of the trial of Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant, who are charged in relation to Deane's death, Fraser, who was the prosecution's first witness on March 6, recalled receiving a pair of bloodstained pants when she went to the Cornwall Regional Hospital on August 4, 2014, the day after Deane was beaten while in police custody at the Barnett Street Police Station lock-up for possession of a ganja spliff.

Fraser admitted that she could not recall any specific identifying marks on the pants she was given. She said that she remembered Deane wearing the pants when he visited her several months before his death.

The prosecution attempted twice to make an application to presiding High Court Justice Courtney Daye for the witness to be shown the pants.

However, in an objection that Justice Daye upheld, Clevon's lawyer Dalton Reid argued that Fraser's evidence made no connection between the pants she got from the hospital and the pants she last saw Deane wearing months earlier.

Meanwhile, the trial was adjourned until Monday, April 28 after it was revealed that two additional prosecution witnesses, who were expected to testify today, were not available.

Stewart, Clevon, and Grant are charged with manslaughter and misconduct in a public office, arising from Deane's death.

Stewart is also charged with perverting the course of justice, under allegations that she ordered the cleaning of the cell where Deane was beaten, prior to the arrival of investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations.

- Christopher Thomas

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