Barbara Gayle, Justice Coordinator

After the defence closed its case yesterday at the murder trial of 24-year-old former police constable Rushon Hamilton, the prosecution sought permission from the court to call Inspector Glasspole Brown.

Brown was called in relation to what a prisoner who was a witness for the defence had said.

The prisoner said that in 2009 Brown had given him $10,000 which one of the Crown witnesses had owed him for cellphone calls made in prison.

In his testimony, Brown denied the accusation made by the prisoner. He said he did not give the prisoner any money.

The prisoner who was called as a defence witness had testified that while he was at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre between 2008 and 2009, he heard a man who was detained there plotting to frame Hamilton for the murder of 14-year-old Jhaneel Goulbourne. He said the prisoner, Lennox Hines, had said that he was a friend of the girl's mother.

The witness said he had access to a cellphone and he charged other prisoners to use it. He said he rented the phone every night to Hines who spoke to one Devon Dockery, also called 'Pretty', over the phone. He said Hines told him that he was going to testify against a policeman.

The witness said the cellphone was on speaker so he heard what the men were saying. He said Hines shared a cell at one stage with him and Hines told him about the plot to frame the policeman.

He said Hines owed him $10,000 for phone calls and he kept asking Hines for the money. He said the police told him that he was harassing a witness and he was taken in 2009 to the Major Investigation Task Force (MIT) where Brown gave him the $10,000.

Les Green present

Under cross-examination, the prisoner said Les Green, the then assistant commissioner of police, was present when he got the $10,000. He said at the time he got the money, he also told the police about the plot to frame the policeman.

It was suggested to the prisoner under cross-examination that he was not speaking the truth about the plot and the money but he said he was speaking the truth.

Brown testified that it was not true that he gave the prisoner $10,000. He said the prisoner was taken to MIT because the prisoner said he could assist with information in relation to two murders. He said the prisoner's information was not helpful in relation to the murders.

Hines and other inmates who said they had shared a cell with Hamilton testified that Hamilton confessed that he shot the girl and dumped the body at sea.

The Crown is alleging that the girl was abducted from her gate on October 24, 2008, and she has not been seen since.

Hamilton was charged with carnal abuse of the girl at the time when she was abducted.

Defence lawyer Valerie Neita-Robertson, in addressing the jurors yesterday in the Home Circuit Court, called for them not to speculate. She told the jurors that any doubt they had should be resolved in Hamilton's favour. She said it was another policeman who had an affair with the girl.

Neita-Robertson called for the jurors to acquit Hamilton because he was innocent.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com