Policeman accused of shooting civilian freed

A policeman was freed on Monday in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court of wounding a civilian during a shooting incident in February 2021.

Thirty-five-year-old Constable Kemmar Hutchinson was freed after the judge upheld a no-case submission by his lawyers that the prosecution did not prove its case against him.

Hutchinson was charged with unlawful wounding and making a false declaration contrary to section 33 of the Independent Commission of Investigations Act.

The charges stemmed from an incident on February 28, 2021 in the vicinity of Love Lane and Charles Street in downtown Kingston. A civilian was shot in the abdomen but Hutchinson reported that he acted in self-defence.

After the Crown closed its case, King's Counsel Peter Champagnie and attorney-at-law Samoi Campbell argued that Hutchinson should be freed based on the evidence presented in court.

The prosecution relied on closed-circuit TV footage capturing part of the altercation as evidence against Hutchinson.

However, the defence lawyers, during the no case submission, argued that critical aspects of the incident were not fully captured in the video presented in court. They said Hutchinson acted in self-defence and the prosecution could not refute that.

They asked the judge to uphold their submissions that Hutchinson made no false statement to INDECOM.

During the submissions, the lawyers referred to the fact that there was evidence that the complainant, Chad Stewart, was charged with illegal possession of firearm and assault after a gun was recovered from him during the incident. It was also pointed out that at the time of the incident there was a warrant out for Stewart's arrest.

There were reports that on the day of the incident Constable Hutchinson was travelling with another policeman in a vehicle when he saw Stewart walking and acting suspiciously. Stewart reportedly attempted to flee and continuously disobeyed Hutchinson's commands to stop.  

Hutchinson in his statement to INDECOM had said that Stewart pulled a firearm from his waist and pointed it in his direction, prompting him to fire in self-defence.

-Barbara Gayle

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