By Barbara Gayle, Staff ReporterA POLICEMAN was yesterday ordered by the Court of Appeal to serve his six-month prison sentence for attempting to pervert the course of justice.
Constable Richard McFarlane, who was on bail and was in court when his appeal was dismissed, was taken into custody.
The charges stemmed from an incident on the Scarlett main road, Trelawny, in 1998 when three men in a motor car were stopped by the police. Ganja was found in the car and the three men were arrested and charged with dealing in ganja, trafficking and possession of ganja.
Constable McFarlane was giving evidence at the trial in the Falmouth Resident Magistrate's Court in 2003, when he said that eight ounces of ganja was found in the car when the men were arrested. However, an inspector of police, who was not connected to the case, but was in court at the time, informed the resident magistrate that he recalled that the amount of ganja was 15 pounds. The RM sent him to check the amount recorded in the station diary and it turned out to be 15 pounds.
Statements were collected and sent to the director of public prosecutions who ruled that Constable McFarlane should be charged with perverting the course of justice. He was stationed at the Falmouth Police Station at the time of his arrest.
He was convicted in the Falmouth Resident Magistrate's Court in September last year of attempting to pervert the course of justice. He appealed against his conviction and six-month sentence. The Court of Appeal, comprising Mr. Justice Clarence Walker, Mr. Justice Howard Cooke and Mr. Justice Karl Harrison, heard McFarlane's appeal and dismissed it.
