Officers do have robbery case to answer, says judge

Chief Magistrate Herbert Lord today ruled that four police constables accused of robbery and aggravated assault do have a case to answer with respect to the robbery charge and that the trial will continue. As for the charges of aggravated assault brought by Goldburn Adolphus, the Chief Magistrate agreed with defence attorney Simeon Sampson that there was no case to answer. One of the four officers, Vladimir Ortega today testified that on March fifth, 2002, he entered Dennis Chow’s shop on Freetown Road because he was suspected of selling illegal lottery and that he did find two lottery books with paper and carbon, but nothing was written on them. He told the court that Chow told him he was robbing him, but he claimed another police officer, Lincoln Kellyman, arrived and put the items in his pocket. Ortega denied taking the one hundred dollars in cash as Chow alleged. Unfortunately, Kellyman died two years ago in a traffic accident. Ortega was the only one of the four to take an oath; the others gave unsworn statements from the dock. The case will continue on October twenty-seventh.