GTA police arrest Jamaican police officer sought in 41 murders
Police spotted Witney Hutchinson, 28, in Ajax on Friday. He is wanted for one murder and under investigation for the murders of 40 other people, according to a police news release.
Witney Hutchinson is seen in 2009 placing a rose at North Carribean University’s thanksgiving service in Jamaica in memory of 33 security officers who died. Hutchinson was arrested in Ajax June 27, 2014.
NIGEL COKE PHOTO
Witney Hutchinson is seen in 2009 placing a rose at North Carribean University’s thanksgiving service in Jamaica in memory of 33 security officers who died. Hutchinson was arrested in Ajax June 27, 2014.
By: Tim Alamenciak News reporter, Published on Mon Jun 30 2014
Police in Ajax have arrested a man alleged to be part of a Jamaican police “death squad” who is wanted in the island nation for the murder of one man and currently being investigated in connection with the killings of 40 others.
Witney Hutchinson, 28, told border officials that he was visiting family when he legally entered Canada in the summer of 2012, according to Toronto police Det. Andrew Lawson. The Toronto police fugitive squad arrested Hutchinson in front of the Ajax home where he was renting a room.
The cases involving Hutchinson and several other officers is among a slew of investigations now being carried out into police in Jamaica, which has been plagued by police killings for decades, according to Amnesty International. The agency reported that from 2000 to 2010, there were 2,220 people killed by police and just two officers convicted.
“It’s been a chronic problem for many years. Overreach on the part of police and various forms of misconduct, including, most egregiously, extrajudicial killing,” said Michael Kuelker, a specialist in Jamaica with Amnesty International U.S.A.
In 2013, 258 civilians lost their lives at the hands of Jamaican police, according to the Independent Commission of Investigations, the agency that has been investigating police killings and misconduct since its creation in 2010. The agency has more than 1,900 active investigations, more than 60 per cent of which are fatal shootings, assaults and shooting injuries.
Hutchinson is wanted for the 2011 killing of Sylvester Gallimore, according to Toronto police. Const. Pete Samuels, an officer in the Clarendon area of Jamaica currently at trial, is also charged with killing Gallimore.
Kahmile Reid, spokeswoman for the commission, declined to comment on Hutchinson’s arrest Monday afternoon.
Hutchinson and eight of his fellow officers are also under investigation for 40 civilian killings. Local media in Jamaica have dubbed the group a police “death squad.”
His return to Jamaica may not come swiftly, according to criminal lawyer Daniel Brown, who has worked on extradition cases before.
“It could be a very quick process, if he doesn’t contest extradition, or it could be a very lengthy process if he contests it and uses all the avenues available to him,” said Brown. “Not only that, but he has lots of opportunities to seek bail. Obviously the more serious the offence, the less likely someone is going to obtain bail.”
Tim Alamenciak can be reached at [email protected] .
di title mek it seem like a canada him do di killing dem. Mi want know if is gunman or rapist him kill or innocent ppl?
Lundun u know mi always di drugs man dem hire jamaican police fi do dem dirty work..If u nuh mind sharp all here him kill people to..I always have it in mind say a one police..maybe this is him
Mi tiad a Jamaicans name in di news fi nutten good. Di island too likkle and population too small fi produce so many hard criminals, dem full di jail cells all ova. Di government fi really explore di root cause a dis issue and find a way fi solve it. Wedda eena di country or di ghetto is di same problem, wedda uptown or downtown, wedda educated or uneducated, wedda famous celebrity or unknown person, wedda eena church or worldlian, it nuh matta a di same rass ting wid dem and di lure to crime.
Get him out of canada and go stand trial like kartel
Title of the piece is incorrect…..