Line cutting at Ocho Rios restaurant triggered fatal shooting, say prosecutors

An altercation over a female patron cutting the line inside a fast-food restaurant is what sparked a deadly shooting incident outside the eatery in Ocho Rios, St Ann, last month, prosecutors have disclosed.

The victim has been identified as Kajay Simms, 30, a labourer of Gayle, St Mary.

A video recording of the incident is among the evidence in the case.

Simms was with a group of friends and family members who went to the Mother's restaurant on January 27.

It's reported in court documents seen by The Gleaner that Simms and members of his group were waiting in line to place their orders when a woman went in front of them, triggering an argument that quickly became physical.

According to prosecutors, the confrontation spilled out onto the street as other people aligned to the warring factions joined in.

It's alleged that Simms pulled a knife and stabbed two men before gunfire erupted. He was found with a gunshot wound and later died at hospital.

Three police constables, Huwayne Ramsay, Marcello Kerr and Jameil Scott, are each facing charges of misprison of felon and misconduct in a public office arising from the incident.

Misprison of felon is the failure to report a crime.

The court document alleged that Ramsay confronted Simms as he argued with the woman accused of cutting the line and uttered the words: “a badness”.

Five civilians, Dugeon Hall, Onique Hall, Troy Allen, Moyo Kerr and Fitzgerald Stewart, have also been charged with misprision of felon.

The three policemen remain in custody after bail applications made by their attorneys Michael Hemmings and Donnovan Collins were denied by a judge at the St Ann's Bay Parish Court on Friday.

All five civilians were granted bail. They have been barred from leaving the island and were ordered to surrender their travel documents to authorities.

Collins was critical of the treatment meted out to the policemen, telling The Gleaner on Saturday that he has seen the video footage and “none of the eight people placed before the court was seen with any firearm”.

He said what is of great concern is that seven of the eight accused persons have been in custody since January 27.

“After three weeks, they were eventually charged and placed before the court. This, in my view, shows the scant regard some people in this country show for the liberty of others sometimes,” the attorney said.

He noted that the new Bail Act gives the police the power to grant bail to a suspect even when the suspect has not been charged with any crime.

- Livern Barrett

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