Father accused of lying in son's murder trial
Published:Thursday | May 5, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Two witnesses testified yesterday at the trial of the four policemen charged with the murder of 18-year-old André Thomas of Grants Pen Road, St Andrew.
They are constables Noel Bryan, Phillip Dunstan, Clayton Fearon and Omar Miller who were charged in October 2008 following a ruling by the director of public prosecutions.
The policemen, who are on bail, are charged in connection with the controversial shooting of Thomas on September 28, 2007 at Grants Pen Road.
Justice Donald McIntosh is presiding at the trial in the Home Circuit Court.
The Crown, represented by attorney-at-law Kathy Pyke and Crown Counsel Sasha Marie Smith, is alleging that Thomas, who is also called 'Kunte', was killed in cold blood.
The initial police reports stated that he was killed in a shoot-out and a gun was seized.
witnesses report
Philbert Thomas, father of the deceased, told the 12-member jury that on the day of the incident, he heard his son who was on a gully bank at 7 Grants Pen Road, asking why they were beating him. He next heard an explosion and he went and saw the four policemen where his son was shot. He said he asked why they killed his son and Dunstan showed him a gun and said he got it from his son. He said he told Dunstan it was a lie in relation to the gun.
Thomas was shown the statement he gave to the police and he said it did not state that Dunstan showed him a gun. He agreed that it was written in the statement that one of the policemen showed him a gun. It was suggested to him that he was telling lies on the policemen, but he said he was not lying.
He said he was not hiding anything when he gave the statement to the police.
The policemen are being represented by defence lawyers Jacqueline Samuels-Brown, QC, Valerie Neita Robertson, Linton Walters, Peter Champagnie and Tamika Harris.