A policeman, who was convicted of the shooting death, in Brown’s Town, of a vendor, was told at his sentencing that the killing was cold-blooded and callous.
The cop was sentenced to life imprisonment.
The sentence was handed down in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston on Friday, July 14 by Justice Glen Brown.
Constable Ricketto Graham of Gayle, St. Mary, was found guilty for the murder of 21-year-old Christopher Hill of Treadlight District in Clarendon and Brown’s Town, St Ann in 2013.
The verdict came on Wednesday, June 7 in the St Ann Circuit Court. A seven-member jury had deliberated for close to 90 minutes and brought the guilty verdict. The sentencing was later transferred to Kingston.
Justice Brown told Graham last Friday that he is to serve 35 years in prison before he is eligible for parole.
In sentencing Graham, the judge also said that the murder of Hill was a cold-blooded and callous killing, and that this should be a warning to other officers that unless they discharge their firearms in self-defense, a custodial sentence would be in order.
At the trial it was heard that Graham shot the vendor and thought he was dead. However, Hill played dead and when transported by cops to hospital, apparently to be pronounced dead, jumped out and proclaimed he was alive.
That was part of the evidence at the trial in the St Ann Circuit Court that also heard from a colleague of the accused cop that he was lying about the cold blooded shooting of a market vendor in Brown’s Town.
It was initially reported that Hill was shot during a confrontation with the police at about 4:30 am on Friday, July 12, 2013 on Wesley Crescent in Brown’s Town, St Ann.
He succumbed to his injuries in hospital on July 13, but not before reportedly telling his mother and others how he had been shot by the cop.
Hill was shot and wounded by Constable Graham, who said in his defense in an unsworn statement from the dock, that Mr. Hill attacked him and his colleague with a knife.
His colleague did not discharge his weapon.
Graham said he shot Hill in order to save his life and that of his colleague. He had also said that he never took Hill to the station to process him.
Constable Graham was charged following a ruling from the director of public prosecution (DPP), dated July 18, 2013.
INDECOM arrested and charged Constable Graham on July 19, 2013, with attempting to pervert the course of justice and murder. He was later granted bail.
WHAT HAPPENED
In his testimony, the main witness in the case, who was a trainee cop present at the scene of the shooting, contradicted Graham’s claim or version of events.
He said that they were never attacked by Hill and that Graham had convinced him (the witness) to tell a “story” when making the report.
He said when he first gave a statement he followed Graham’s instructions and did not tell the truth. It was disclosed in court that the two men — the witness and Graham — corresponded via cell phone. The prosecution said the witness texted Graham to say that his “conscience could not allow him” to continue with the lie.
Graham’s response to that was said to be “this will blow over, stick to the story”.
The prosecution also presented evidence to say Hill, was in fact processed at the station.
THE TRIAL
The trial of Constable Graham began in the St. Ann Circuit Court on May 29 before Justice Glen Brown. The matter was prosecuted by assistant director of public prosecutions, Leighton Morris and crown counsel Kameisha Johnson.
Evidence presented in court was that vendor Christopher Hill, was accosted by the police, taken to the Brown’s Town Police Station and processed.
He was questioned in relation to a series of robberies, but a trainee cop told Graham that Hill did not match the photograph of the alleged robber that was wanted. It was further stated that Graham did not accept what the trainee cop had said and insisted Hill was the man they were looking for
Hill was subsequently taken to Wesley Crescent, where he was shot.
The prosecution relied on the evidence of the police officer, who was at the time on training, when Hill was shot.
That cop testified that he saw Hill with no knife on the morning in question and that it was while he held Hill that he heard a loud explosion.
The cop testified that he later let Hill out of his grasp and Hill fell. He said that Graham told him to also shoot Hill, but the trainee cop said he was afraid.
PRETENDED TO BE DEAD
It was also heard at the trial that it was when Hill was transported by officers and arrived at the hospital, he reportedly “jumped up” and told the doctor “Mi nuh dead! Mi nuh dead!”
Hill later told the doctor he pretended to be dead and gave his account of the incident.
The doctor’s account was that Hill told him, he had been shot by officers after being questioned for “some crime.”
The doctor said Hill told him that the police had taken his phone and cash and called his mother to inform her that he was dead.
Hill reportedly said one of the cops who had taken him on the road told him to lie down, but Hill said he refused and was then shot twice. Hill told the doctor he held his breath and pretended to be dead, while the officers left him there and came back and placed him in a van.
However, the doctor said Hill did not remember what transpired later as he only remembered waking up in the hospital.
Hill later succumbed to his gunshot wounds at hospital.
