A WOMAN charged with assaulting a policeman and destruction of property, was freed in the Westmoreland Resident Magistrate's Court last Thursday, after the defence pointed out several contradictions in written statements presented by the complainant, and exposed deficiencies in the case presented by the prosecution.
When Constable Howard Morris of the Savanna-la-Mar police took the stand to argue his case against 30-year-old higgler, Cheryl McFarlane, he was subjected to rigorous cross-examination by defence attorney Patrick Atkinson, who exposed the many loopholes in the prosecution's case.
Constable Morris was very evasive, answering most of the defence attorney's questions by repeatedly using the phrase "I cannot recall, sir". This prompted presiding judge, Ernel Johnson, to remark that if a policeman could not recall so many things, he ran the risk of losing his credibility and, in any case, it was certainly no way to impress the court.
According to the prosecution, the policeman was among others on duty on December 29, 2001 on Great Georges Street in Savanna-la-Mar, when he came upon a handcart man selling oranges in a prohibited area. When Constable Morris went to speak with the man, McFarlane, who was nearby, intervened, hurled abuse at the policeman, grabbed his sunglasses and threw it into a drain.
Giving evidence, Constable Morris said that during a tussle with McFarlane, he sustained a scratch on his face, which bled. However, when the defence attorney asked him why he didn't mention anything about the glasses in the first of two statements that he wrote, Constable Morris was silent.
The defence alleged that McFarlane had intervened in the matter when she saw the policeman overturn the handcart with the vendor's oranges. He reportedly slapped the accused woman, grabbed her blouse, pointed his gun at her and said, "Woman, come outa police business."
Continuing, the defence argued that it was when McFarlane went to the police station to make a report about the incident that Morris arrested and charged her.
The policeman admitted under cross examination by Mr. Atkinson that many of the allegations he made against the accused woman in the two statements he had written were not true.
The case against McFarlane was dismissed when Clerk of Court Tanya Burke said that the prosecution will marshal no further evidence against her.
