TWO TEENAGERS from Cock-burn Gardens, Kingston 11, were sentenced yesterday to life imprisonment for the murder of Det. Cons. Selvin English, 25, of the Narcotics Division.
They are Omar 'Fatta' Clarke, 18, who will have to serve 25 years before he is eligible for parole, and Naciseve 'Raggamuffin' Harriott, 18, who is to serve 30 years before he is eligible for parole.
Justice Norma McIntosh, in sentencing them, described the case as a "double tragedy". She said the first tragedy was that the person who died was a policeman. The second tragedy was that it was two teenagers who had been found guilty of the crime. The judge said the society was failing "our young men" because too many of the serious matters which came before the court were committed by young men in the same age group as Clarke and Harriott.
Det. Cons. English was shot dead when he challenged a gunman during a robbery at a bar in Cockburn Gardens about 11 p.m. on February 24, last year.
The prosecution, represented by Gail Walters, Crown Counsel, presented evidence at the trial in the Home Circuit Court that three men went to rob a bar in Cockburn Gardens. One of the men remained outside the bar, one went to the bartender and demanded money and the other man went up to English who challenged him. They began to struggle and eventually ended up in the street. The man who went to the bartender went around the back where the owners of the bar lived and held them up. An explosion was heard and the man who was in the owner's house ordered them to let him out through the back door.
It was later discovered that Det. Cons. English and his attacker were fatally shot. Clarke was charged that same day. Clarke gave a statement to the police in which he said that he was on the road when two known gunmen asked him to go into the bar and "map out" the place. He said the men said they wanted to rob the bar and wanted to know how many people were inside. He said that was how he came to be in the bar.
Witnesses identified Clarke and Harriott as two of the men who were in the bar. Harriott was charged two days after the incident. He was in school uniform and was carrying a bag with school books which did not belong to him. He told the police that people in the area told him that the police were looking for him so he should dress like a schoolboy and leave the Cockburn Gardens area. The police swabbed his hands and found gunpowder residue on them.
In their defence, the two accused said they were not in the bar and did not know anything about the murder.
