Police fail to testify, ‘Henry Greene’ protestors walk free

Nov 22, 2012 News

Seven women who were arrested and charged for allegedly carrying on an illegal demonstration at the home of now deceased former police commissioner, Henry Greene, were set free, after Magistrate Sueanna Lovell upheld a no case submission made by the defendants’ lawyer.
The matter which started at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court last year concluded on Tuesday last, subsequent to Attorney-at-law Basil Williams submitting to the court that his clients Vanessa Belle, Melissa Leacock, Andrea Marks, Evelyn (Eslyn) Jackson, Shondel Hope, Ann Adams and Natasha Ferguson, had no case to answer.
Williams argued about the inefficiencies of the police in presenting their case and the absence of evidence.
Apart from that, police witnesses scheduled to testify in the matter had not been attending court as they were supposed to. It was noted that the prosecution failed to present those witnesses and the court alluded to the case’s dismissal for want of the prosecution.
The women were charged on December 21, 2011. They were accused of engaging in an illegal demonstration outside the former Commissioner’s home. The police said the women had no permission for the activity they were conducting.
Police Constables Dwayne Towler and Clemroy August had testified that the women, around 03:04hrs, at Lamaha Springs, Georgetown, were seen by police ranks in front of the home of the former Commissioner carrying on a procession.
They claimed to have made checks as to ascertain whether the women were granted permission to “carry on as they were”.
Those checks, they said, proved that the women did not have permission, thus they were arrested.
In their defense, the women said that they were religious people going to pray for the soul of Henry Greene. They said they had not even commenced any acts when they were approached by the police.
At the time, the former police Commissioner who died in a vehicular accident in early September was implicated in a rape allegation. The embattled police head was accused by a young woman of forcibly having intercourse with her.
A police source said it was believed that the women gathered outside of the former top cop’s home to protest the issue.