INDECOM crime scene investigator testifies to swabbing Deane’s mother’s mouth

WESTERN BUREAU:

Mercia Fraser, the mother of Mario Deane, is expected to retake the witness stand tomorrow when the trial of three police personnel charged in relation to her son’s death resumes in the Westmoreland Circuit Court.

Presiding High Court Justice Courtney Daye yesterday adjourned the trial of the defendants – Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant – until Friday, following what was the 20th day of testimony.

Before the adjournment, the prosecution read into evidence a statement from Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) crime scene examiner Shaday Vassell, regarding her taking of DNA samples from Fraser on March 25 this year.

“On March 25, 2025, at 10:30 a.m., on request, I proceeded to the Hanover Court in Lucea, Hanover, in relation to a buccal swab,” Vassell said in her statement, referencing the process of swabbing the inside of a person’s mouth to collect DNA samples. “Upon my arrival at the Hanover Court, I was directed to a room where Mercia Fraser was present. Based on information received, I proceeded to collect buccal swabs from Ms Fraser.”

Vassell’s statement indicated that she subsequently packaged, sealed, and labelled the sample that was collected, and submitted it to the government forensic laboratory’s biology department on March 26, 2025.

After Vassell’s statement was read, the prosecution told the court that Fraser’s evidence concerning the DNA sample, along with evidence from witnesses at the forensic laboratory, will be taken on Friday.

Earlier in yesterday’s proceedings, attorneys Martyn Thomas and Dalton Reid, the lawyers for the three police defendants, concluded their cross-examination of the prosecution’s eighth witness, a former inmate who was in custody at the Barnett Street Police Station, where Deane was beaten on August 3, 2014.

MAINTAINED POSITION

Under intense questioning from Reid, who is representing Clevon, the witness firmly maintained that Clevon came to his cell after the incident and told him not to tell anyone what he had witnessed. He also rejected claims from Thomas, who is representing Stewart and Grant, that he could not see the police station’s reception area from his cell, upholding his previous testimony that he could see through the grille on his cell’s door.

Under re-examination from prosecutor Kimberly Williams, the witness maintained his ignorance of several responses, which were attributed to him in a statement he gave to an INDECOM investigator on August 11, 2014. He also insisted that he had been in the cell block’s third cell when Deane was beaten in the cell next door, even though his statement to INDECOM said he was in the second cell.

“The person who was taking the notes made a mistake, because I did not say that. The person from INDECOM that was taking the notes misunderstood what I said,” the witness said.

Stewart, Clevon, and Grant are charged with manslaughter and misconduct in a public office, in relation to Deane’s death on August 6, 2014, three days after he was beaten. Stewart is also charged with perverting the course of justice, under allegations that she ordered that the cell where Deane was beaten be cleaned before the arrival of INDECOM investigators.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com