THE FIREARM register for the St. James Special Squad, some of whose members went on the special operation in Flankers when two senior citizens were fatally shot, cannot be found.
Sergeant Charles Nathan made the disclosure yesterday as he testified in the Home Circuit Court.
Woman Constable Bibzie Foster, Special Constable Metro McFarlane and constables Kevin Williams, Kadian Smith and Donald Thomas, have been on trial since June 19 for the double murder.
On the morning of October 25, 2003, David Bacchas, 63, and Cecil Brown, also 63, both of Flankers, were shot and killed while travelling in a motor car in the community.
Sgt. Nathan said the last time he saw the firearm register was on January 13, 2004, when Sgt. Alrick Henry from the Bureau of Special Investigation (BSI) visited the Montego Bay Police Station and wrote information from it. He said that he signed and certified what Sgt. Henry had written on a sheet of paper after himself checking the register.
The firearm register was kept on a desk in the guard room at the Montego Bay Police Station but Sgt. Nathan said that in May this year, based on instructions received, he searched for the register but did not find it.
Defence lawyer Carolyn Reid Cameron, who is representing Foster, objected to the document which Sgt. Nathan certified being tendered into evidence because it was third-party hearsay evidence and was also prejudicial.
Justice Kay Beckford upheld the objections.
Sgt. Henry also testified that the entries which were made in the register on September 10, 2003, did not have the signatures of the persons issuing the firearms or the persons receiving them. He said after he copied the entry from the register, he handed the sheet of paper to Assistant Commissioner Granville Gause.
Sgt. Nathan said that Woman Constable Bibzie Foster was a member of the St. James Special Squad and she was in his team which went to Flankers on the early morning of October 25, 2003. Sgt. Nathan said no one from his team fired any shots at Flankers that morning.
- Barbara Gayle
