Police inspector freed of wounding charge after 10-year wait

Police inspector Garfield Edwards who has been off the job for the past ten years awaiting his trial for wounding with intent was today freed of the charge.

Edwards , who is 57, was freed after a Supreme Court judge upheld a no-case submission by attorney at law Peter Champagnie.

Champagnie had submitted at the end of the Crown’s case on Friday that the bullet which struck 30-year-old exotic dancer Nicola Webb during a 2002 incident came from Edwards’ firearm.

He also said the Crown could not prove that Edwards was the only policeman who fired shots on the night of the incident.

Edwards had reported that he fired in self defence after someone fired a shot from car in which Webb was travelling along Waterloo Road in St Andrew.

Webb had testified that on September 4, 2002 she was travelling in a taxi, when they came upon a police party.

She said a man in a khaki suit came out in the middle of the road, however the driver of the taxi did not stop.

Webb said she heard an explosion and some time after, she felt a burning sensation.

It was later discovered that a bullet had lodged in her spine paralysing her from the waist down.

She spent two weeks in hospital.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com