Cop reveals Mario Deane could have got bail with surety

Corporal Orville Williams made a revelation when testifying in the trial of three cops facing charges for the 2014 beating death of Mario Deane, telling the Westmoreland Circuit Court that Deane could have received station bail.

Continuing his evidence-in-chief, which began on Wednesday, Williams - who was assigned to the Barnett Street Police Station in 2014 - said that persons who are taken into custody for minor offences, such as possession of ganja or disorderly conduct, can be considered for station bail in their own surety, or without needing another person to bail them.

However, he noted that Deane, who was taken into custody for possession of a ganja spliff, required a surety to bail him because he was unable to give the police directions to his house.

Williams also explained that if a prisoner requires a surety to come and bail him, that prisoner is processed and put in a cell until the surety arrives at the station.

Deane, a 31-year-old construction worker, was beaten while in custody at the Barnett Street Police Station lock-up in St James on August 3, 2014, and died at hospital three days later.

Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant, who were reportedly on duty at the station at the time, are on trial in relation to his death.

Stewart, Clevon, and Grant are all charged with manslaughter and misconduct in a public office, in relation to Deane's death.

Stewart, the senior officer in charge at the time, is also charged with perverting the course of justice, where she allegedly ordered the cleaning of the cell where the beating took place before investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations arrived.

The trial is currently ongoing.

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