Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
A POLICEMAN, who shot and seriously wounded a man when he went to the man's home in response to a call that there was a domestic dispute, has been jailed for five years.
He is 49-year-old Sergeant Patrick Blake, who was attached to the Annotto Bay Police Station in St. Mary.
Blake was sentenced by Justice Lloyd Hibbert after a jury retired for more than an hour and found him guilty of wounding with intent.
The Crown, represented by Donald Bryan, assistant director of public prosecutions, led evidence that on February 21, 2001, Blake shot Ray Habib, a businessman of Gibraltar Heights, St. Mary. The policeman had answered a radio call and went to Habib's house where he and his common-law wife were involved in a fight.
Habib testified that Blake and a district constable came to his home and they both had guns. Blake stood between him and his common-law wife. Blake pointed the gun at him and told him to move. Habib said he asked Blake how he came to a domestic dispute with a gun in his hand. He said he told Blake that he knew where to lodge a complaint so he could lose his work. Blake said before he allowed him to do that he would 'prefer' to kill him.
He said he went to where his car was across the road and when he was returning to the premises, Blake held him in his shirt and put the gun to his head. Habib said he raised both hands in the air and was shot in the arm. Blake pointed the gun at his abdomen and shot him. He fell to the ground and Blake knelt over him and shot him a second time in his abdomen.
ADMITTED TO HOSPITAL
The district constable called out "Sarge, Sarge, are you a mad man." The district constable took the gun from Blake, who got into the police jeep and drove away.
Habib said that the district constable took him to hospital where he was admitted for four months.
In his defence, Blake said that Habib took up a stone and was advancing towards him. He told him to put down the stone, but he threw the stone which caught him on his ankle. He said he held Habib in his shirt and during a struggle the gun went off.
