Cop guilty of corruption

A police constable has been found guilty of corruption-related charges and will be sentenced in the St Catherine Parish Court on March 6.

In her summation, Senior Parish Judge Tara Carr told the accused Oneil Barrett, 38, that he had shown an intention to pervert the course of Justice.

The judge asserted that Barrett, who was accused of approaching a potential witness and promising to get $30,000 from family members of a deceased to secure a statement from her, had contravened the law.

The facts are that in 2016, Barrett was investigating a murder case in which he had made an arrest. A witness decided not to submit a statement to the police, but Barrett was alleged to have approached her and also family members to secure payments for the statement.

Several WhatsApp messages sent by Barrett were retrieved by the constabulary’s Cyber Crime Unit and tendered into evidence during the trial.

– Rasbert Turner