Tashieka Mair, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

The unexplained absence of the investigating officer and the main eyewitness in the case against four men charged for the 2006 murders of five persons in Norwood, St. James, may have forced Resident Magistrate Wilson Smith to offer them bail after a year in custody.

Eighteen-year-old Andrew 'Blacka Shines' Cox; Adrian 'Banga' Lofters, 22; Lenford 'Bungie' Brown, 20; and 21-year-old Jerome Millwood were each granted bail in the sum of $1 million, on Monday.

Several dates

Attorney-at-law Roy Fairclough, who represents Millwood, said it was unacceptable that the matter had not proceeded after several preliminary enquiry dates. He added that the court had not been given any explanations for the absence of the eyewitness and the officer.

The lawyer applied for bail on behalf of all four accused in the absence of the other attorneys. He argued that the outstanding post-mortems should not impede the case, as there was no dispute as to how the persons died.

The men were granted bail with one or two sureties under the condition that they report to the Montego Freeport Police Station on Mondays.

Millwood, who is the only accused with a passport, was ordered to surrender his travel documents and a stop order was imposed on all ports of exit.

Strike a balance

RM Smith said he too was not satisfied with the circumstances and what he describes as "flimsy excuses" and said he had to strike a balance.

The men are scheduled to return to court on September 10 for a preliminary enquiry.

Allegations are that gunmen shot and killed 43-year-old Patrick Anderson, 29-year-old Natalie Ferguson, 57-year-old Linda Malcolm, her common-law husband, 62-year-old Michael Montaque and their 20-year-old son, Michael Jr., during separate attacks in Norwood on July 4, 2006. The attackers also torched the houses of Anderson and the Montaques.