Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter
A POLICEMAN who shot a man in the back during a chase five years ago has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murder. Constable Glenroy McDermoth, 30, will not be eligible for parole until he has served 20 years imprisonment.
Mrs. Justice Carol Beswick made the recommendation yesterday when she sentenced McDermoth.
A Home Circuit Court jury convicted McDermoth last week of the murder of 25-year-old Michael Dorsett, also called 'Bobba', of Taylor Lane, Bull Bay, St. Andrew.
Crown Counsel Diahann Gordon-Harrison and Maxine Jackson led evidence that Dorsett was shot in the back on November 9, 2000.
McDermoth, who was attached to the Bull Bay Police Station, said in his defence that Dorsett was wanted for the offences of rape, robbery and shooting with intent.
He said he and other policemen were on patrol that day when he saw Dorsett in the company of another man.
FIRED AT THE POLICE
The men fired at the police party. McDermoth said he returned the fire because he feared for his life and the lives of his colleagues.
However, the Crown presented scientific evidence that the hands of the deceased were swabbed on the day he was fatally shot. The analyst said no gunpowder residue was found on the deceased's hands.
A 15-year-old boy testified in Court that he saw McDermoth chasing Dorsett. He said Dorsett did not have any weapon in his hands.
The witness said Dorsett jumped over a fence and that it was at that time he heard an explosion.
