Features

Methods of investigation

THERE HAVE BEEN numerous queries recently by Jamaican citizens as to the manner in which some policemen investigate cases.

According to one lawyer, it would appear that the police are quick to arrest and then investigate after.

"I have been practising in the criminal courts for the last 15 years and I have noticed this trend with some policemen. When the cases come before the court there is always the saying that the files are incomplete.

"I know there are times when the police might need an additional statement but I don't think they should arrest people, especially in fraud cases and other serious offences, before they have completed their investigations," the lawyer added.

Persons who have been in police custody for a long time without being charged can apply to a judge to be released from custody.

So far this week, applications were made in the courts for the release of men who have been in custody for more than a week.

In one of the cases, one of six policemen who have been taken into custody arising from investigations into an alleged car-stealing ring, filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking his immediate release from custody .

Attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie, who made the application in chambers before Senior Resident Magistrate Martin Gayle, submitted that his client was not charged with any offence since he had been in custody on June 18.

No charges

Mr. Champagnie said since no charges were brought against his client then at least he should be given the opportunity to make a bail application.

The investigating officer asked for more time on the grounds that the investigations were at a delicate stage and RM Gayle adjourned the matter to Wednesday.

Supreme Court Judge Wesley James on Wednesday directed the police in Westmoreland to bring 42-year-old hotelier Michael Grandison and Peter Bandoo, 40-year-old security manager, to the Supreme Court today so that the court could make enquiries as to whether the two men had been lawfully detained.

They were taken into custody on June 5 after hotelier Sandra McLeod was found strangled at a hotel in Negril, Westmoreland. So far, no charges have been brought against the men. The men brought their plight to the court after their lawyers Ravil Golding and Courtney Kazemba filed a writ of habeas corpus seeking their immediate release.

A writ of habeas corpus is one of the means which a person who believes he is being detained unlawfully can use to get his release from custody. Once the writ is filed, a judge will hear the application and determine whether the detention is lawful.