THE NEW Coroner's inquest into the death of three-year-old Gervis Dennis, who was shot dead at his home in Olympic Gardens, Kingston 11, on June 29, 1997, did not get off the ground on Friday as scheduled because there were not enough jurors to make up the panel.
June 20 is the new date set for the inquest in the Corporate Area Coroner's Court at Sutton Street, central Kingston.
The inquest began on June 21,1999 but was aborted after 17 sittings and the depositions of several witnesses because the Coroner, Resident Magistrate Pauline Gibson-Stellar, had retired, without the inquest having been completed.
On April 24, the inquest was called up before the new Coroner, Norman B. Harrison, who bound over the witnesses to return to court on Friday for the inquest to begin anew.
On Friday, however, there were not enough jurors to form a panel of five, so the start of the new hearing was postponed until June 20 when it is hoped that the minimum quorum of five jurors will be found.
But the inquest might not have gone on anyway, for a lack of police witnesses, the absence of which had stalled the inquest time and again in the past.
Gerald and Andrea Dennis, the parents of Gervis, said Friday was the 19th time they were attending the inquest.
Gervis Dennis was shot dead on Sunday, June 29, 1997 on the back porch of his parents' house at 47 Australia Road in the inner-city community of Olympic Gardens, Kingston 11.
The police had targeted Richard 'Indian' Maragh, 19, whom they said had been wanted for questioning about several crimes. He ran through the Dennises' backyard, jumped over a zinc fence and into another yard where the police cornered and shot him dead.
The police said then that a team from the Special Anti-Crime Task Force went to the area, five gunmen fired at them, they fired back and when the shooting stopped they searched the area and found a man named Richard Maragh with bullet wounds.
The police said Gervis was killed in a crossfire but the Dennises said that at the time their son was shot, nobody had been firing at the police either from their yard or from their house.
