First witness testifies in trial for cops accused of Boulevard abductions

Barbara Gayle, Justice Coordinator

The trial of the three policemen charged in connection with the December 23, 2004 murders of two men who were abducted from a plaza on Washington Boulevard, St Andrew continued today in the Home Circuit Court with the prosecution calling its first witness.

Assistant Superintendent of Police Victor Barrett and constables Paul Edwards and Louie Lynch are charged with murder.

They were arrested and charged in June 2009.

It is alleged that some policemen drove to the parking lot at the plaza on December 23, 2004, where they accosted 20-year-old Kemar Walters, apprentice mechanic of Kitson Town, St Catherine, and 28-year-old Oliver Duncan, shopkeeper and block maker of Olympic Gardens, Kingston 11.

One of the men was said to be part of a car-stealing ring.

Both men have been missing since.

It is believed that they were abducted and subsequently murdered.

The mother of deceased Kemar Walters, Claudette Angus, a practical nurse was called to the stand today.

She said that she saw her son two Sundays before he went missing on December 23, 2004.

On December 24, 2004 she said a relative told her something. She said she then made several attempts to find her son by visiting police stations and then reporting her son's disappearance to the Internal Affairs Bureau of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, where a missing person's report was filed.

Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Dirk Harrison in outlining the prosecution's case said that on December 23, 2004, the deceased men went to Washington Plaza on the outskirts of Patrick Gardens between 3 and 4 p.m.

Harrison has asked the jury to consider that there was a common plot between constables Paul Edwards and Louie Lynch and that while Assistant Superintendent of Police Victor Barrett was not present at the scene, the role he played was to cover up the constables deeds.

On the day in question a police party left the Organised Crime Investigation
Division with members who were going on enquiries.

The car was being driven by Edwards with constables Emerson Henry and Clayton in the car.

On the day a Blue Honda CRV was parked in the Washington Plaza with Walters in the car. It was said that the car was being approached by Duncan. The men were then taken into police custody and placed in a red car driven by Edwards to the plaza.

The police then called for backup and a policeman named Lynch and another named Silvera arriving.

Constables Henry and Silvera were left on the scene, while constables Lynch, Edwards and Silvera departed with the two men.

On December 25, 2004 a burnt-out CRV was found off Port Royal main road. The prosecution also said that the case was almost dead, but in 2008 it was reopened and investigation continued.

The prosecution says that one member who was present on December 23, 2004, Constable Emerson Henry came forward and will relay what was said by Edwards on the day and what transpired.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com