Braeton inquest for January

By Omar Anderson, Staff Reporter

THE CORONER'S inquest into the deaths of the Braeton Seven is to take place from January 14 to February 22 next year.

And St. Catherine's Coroner yesterday ordered that neither the police nor anyone else should further tamper with the house in Braeton, St. Catherine where the police shot dead the seven young men in March this year.

Coroner Lorna Errar-Gayle made the ruling after lawyers for the families of the seven men, said there had been at least two attempts by the police in August to clean the house.

"Lot 1088 5th Seal Way should not be disturbed by the police or person or persons acting under their instructions until the culmination of the inquest," the Coroner ordered in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate's Courthouse.

Yesterday, lawyers representing the families of the seven men, and Crown Counsel Janet Scotland of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, who will be marshalling the evidence, agreed on the dates for the inquest -- January 14 to February 22, 2001. There will be no sittings on Tuesdays during the period.

Ms. Scotland had earlier told the court the lawyers had agreed on having the inquest over two weeks, but Mrs. Errar-Gayle said two weeks wouldn't be sufficient. A six-week timetable.

Earlier, attorney-at-law Michael Lorne, who is representing the family of Christopher Grant, 17, asked the court to rule in favour of preserving what was left of evidence at the house because the police had tried to clean the house, reportedly with the owner's consent.

According to Mr. Lorne, the police and others were stopped by him and senior lawyers and other police officers. "We would ask that in no way should it ( the house) be changed until the matter is completed," Mr. Lorne said.

But attorney-at-law Carol Reid, one of the lawyers representing the police, said the house had already been contaminated. According to her, there was evidence given in statements that persons had removed articles of clothing and photos from the house following the shooting. She added there were also news reports of persons removing fragments of human skull from the house.

But defending the reason for the clean-up, Deputy Supt. Maurice Goodgame of the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI), told the court that the owner of the house returned from Canada recently and said he wanted the house cleaned, renovated, then sold.

DSP Goodgame said the owner was told that cleaning the house would cost $7,000; the owner said he couldn't afford it. He said the police then offered to provide labourers to clean the house.

His explanation did not please Mrs Errar-Gayle.

"The police should never have gone there with anybody to clean the house and they all know that," she said, reminding the court of previous criticism of the police for reportedly tampering with evidence at the Braeton house soon after the seven men were shot dead.

Earlier, Mr. Lorne complained that the swab tests results for traces of ammonium nitrate (gun powder) have not be given to the lawyers. But Ken Smith, Clerk of Courts, said the tests and several other ballistic certificates had been sent to the lawyers.

Coroner Errar-Gayle asked him to double check to find out whether the lawyers had indeed been sent the result of the swab tests.

Other lawyers to appear at the inquest are: Mr. Richard Rowe, for the family of Tamoya Wilson, 20; Mr. Roger Davis, for the family of Andre Virgo, 20; Mr. Arthur Kitchin, for the family of Curtis Smith, 20; Miss Kathryn Phipps, for the family of Lancebert Clarke, 19; Dr. Lloyd Barnett, Q.C., for the family of Dane Whyte, 19; and Dennis Daly, Q.C., for the family of Ronald Beckford, 15.

Attorneys Ian Ramsay Q.C. and Oswest Senior-Smith complete the police's legal team.

In March, about 60 members of the police force led by Senior Supt. Reneto Adams, head of the Crime Management Unit, went to a house at Fifth Seal Way, Braeton. They said that men in the house fired on them as they approached and they fired back, killing all seven on the spot.

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