X6 suspect to be questioned
Published:Tuesday | July 12, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Janet Silvera, Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Lawyers are preparing for the interrogation of the main suspect in the killing of Khajeel Mais even as the initial autopsy could not determine the cause of death.
The suspect arrived on the island yesterday around the same time a pathologist at the Kingston Public Hospital was trying to locate the bullet that reportedly hit the 17-year-old Kingston College student in the head two Fridays ago.
"We haven't started the interview of the suspect," Assistant Commissioner of Police Ealan Powell told The Gleaner late yesterday, careful not to reveal any additional information.
Powell was also not prepared to reveal the name of the suspect, or a date when the interview would commence.
The suspect has sought counsel with renowned attorney-at-law Patrick Atkinson. Among the reasons given for the delay in the interview are that Atkinson did not have the chance to speak with his client in detail before he arrived in Jamaica yesterday.
Speaking with The Gleaner yesterday, the attorney said the suspect, who left Jamaica shortly after Mais' death on Friday, July 1, offered to return to the country through him.
Atkinson said he was asked to make contact with the police, who met the suspect on arrival at the Norman Manley International Airport at approximately 11:20 a.m.
The attorney would not disclose from where the flight originated.
In the meantime, the family was plunged deeper into despair when the pathologist reported he saw no bullet.
"The doctors say it's possible that the bullet might have travelled, and they will have to do an X-ray on Thursday with a view to locating the bullet," Allana Mais, mother of the deceased, confirmed with The Gleaner. Young Mais' body remains in the custody of the Government.
Mrs Mais had hoped to bury her son this Saturday at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kingston.
Reports indicate that Mais was a passenger in a taxi travelling along Fairfax Avenue, Havendale, en route to a fête at Meadowbrook High School when the cab bumped into a BMW X6.
The driver of the X6 reportedly became angry and retaliated by blocking the road and firing wildly into the taxi.
When the taxi driver realised he was under attack, he turned his vehicle around and headed in the opposite direction, but could not outpace the SUV, whose driver shot out his back window, hitting the teenager in the head.
Mais later died at the Kingston Public Hospital. The taxi driver escaped injury.