CHUCKY BROWN FOUND GUILTY

Constable Collis Chucky Brown, who prosecutors had accused of being a member of a police death squad in Clarendon, has been found guilty.

A six-member jury delivered the verdict after deliberating for four hours on Thursday.

Constable Brown was found guilty on all five indictments – three counts of murder, conspiracy to murder and wounding with intent.

He is to be sentenced on December 20.

Prosecutors alleged that from 2009 to 2012, Constable Brown was a member of a death squad behind the fatal shooting of Demoy Gutty Dawkins, Dwayne Douglas and Andrew Fearon.

They said the audio recordings given by Constable Brown to the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) about his role in the death squad in 2013 was solid proof of his guilt.

Last month, a civilian witness who said he was an informant for members of the Clarendon police death squad, testified that Constable Brown was working for a popular drug boss in Manchester.

The witness, who was not allowed to call names, said the drug boss is a well known contractor.

The witness testified that he provided information to Constable Brown which led to the killing of the men.

The witness, who admitted to having a long criminal record, said he met Constable Brown, while the two were in custody at the Horizon Remand Facility in 2016.

He said Constable Brown urged him to remain silent about the killings when approached by the authorities.

The witness said INDECOM investigators found him while he was in custody and he gave them a statement in 2017 about his dealings with officers of the May Pen police station.

Reacting to the guilty verdict Thursday afternoon, defence attorney Vincent Wellesley said he was very disappointed.

He declared that the jury with its verdict had sent a wrong message to police officers across the country and especially those in Clarendon.

“I believe the jurors got enough which ought to have caused them to return a not guilty verdict… I am very, very disappointed in these Jamaicans who I thought did not like gunmen and criminals,” the attorney lamented.

Queens Counsel Carolyn Haye, who was the lead prosecutor in the case, however, dismissed the suggestion that the jury had sent the wrong message.

“I think the signal is there is due process of law, and that we don’t discount the effort of the police. What we do is we say the police and the citizen are equal… There may be extra powers given to a police officer to perform certain functions, but he must perform those functions within the ambit of the law…. And it’s not just Jamaica, it’s how we are viewed internationally… Did we want to sanction extra-judicial killings in front of the whole world?” she questioned, maintaining that she believes the jury gave a considered verdict.

“There was a lot of evidence. A lot of that evidence came from the accused man’s mouth himself; and so once they were satisfied that he spoke and that he wasn’t forced or induced – it was free speaking – then it was over to them to decide as they did.”

Hamish Campbell, Assistant Commissioner of INDECOM, said the case “identified a range of wrongdoings in the JCF” and so the agency will continue its pursuit of wrongdoers in the force.