By Nagra Plunkett, Staff ReporterWESTERN BUREAU:
ONE OF the men detained in the Canterbury shootings has been positively identified in connection with crimes in the Montego Bay area, but another 15 are yet to face any police line-ups after more than a week in jail.
The detainees were taken into custody last Wednesday following an eight-hour exchange of bullets between police and criminals in the inner-city area.
A previous ID parade was aborted, and reports reaching The Gleaner are that it is the action of some lawyers that have been hampering the process.
Attorney-at-law Dalton Reid, legal counsel for two of the 23 men in custody, said yesterday he would not allow his clients to participate in any new line-ups, on the basis that police officers were the ones doing the identifying.
"My problem with the parade, as I told them (the police), is that it is all police witnesses, some of whom work at the same police station where these men have been held for the past week... it makes no sense," Mr. Reid argued.
OBJECTIONS
"I have already advised my clients of my objections and the decision to take part in anymore parades would be theirs to make."
He asserted that the lack of transparency would inevitably result in his client being charged with gun crimes.
A police line-up that was convened at the St. James Police Divisional Headquarters, Montego Bay Freeport, on Tuesday for the Canterbury detainees, ended prematurely, The Gleaner learned. However, the men are scheduled to face more police line-ups today.
The Canterbury shootings saw three alleged gunmen fatally shot and three policemen shot and injured.
Eight illegal guns, including five high-powered weapons and over 1,000 rounds of assorted ammunition valued at $1 million were recovered.
Meantime, Constable Lori Nelson of the Special Anti-Crime Task Force (SACTF), who was hospitalised for his injuries, has been transferred to Kingston for continued treatment.
