Cash Plus investors to know fate of funds by weekend

Depositors should know by the end of this week if they will receive a refund of the money they invested in the failed Cash Plus investment scheme.

Attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman, the former Cash Plus liquidator and former trustee in bankruptcy, made the disclosure yesterday in the Home Circuit Court.

Wildman said he was now representing former Cash Plus boss Carlos Hill in the liquidation process. He made an application for Hill's trial, which was set to start yesterday, to be put off because his instructions were that there were some developments which should result in the depositors being in an advantageous position to benefit.

The prosecutors said they were ready to proceed with the trial, but they agreed for Hill to be given a week since the adjournment is expected to be beneficial to the depositors.

Hill, who is charged with fraudulently inducing persons to invest in Cash Plus, had his bail extended and is to return to court next week Monday.

Director of Public Prosecutions Paula Llewellyn has warned that if any of the Crown witnesses fail to cooperate she will be asking the court to issue warrants for their arrest.

Defence lawyers Valerie Neita Robertson and Deborah Martin, who are representing Hill, indicated yesterday that they were ready to proceed with the trial but that they believed that in the interest of the depositors an adjournment should be granted.

Buckfield case kicks off in Circuit Court

The trial of Detective Sergeant Lloyd Kelly, who is charged with murder following the alleged video-recorded shooting of a man in Ocho Rios, St Ann, began yesterday in the Home Circuit Court.

Kelly is charged with the murder of Ian Lloyd, otherwise called 'Chen-Singh'.

Attorney Melissa Simms, in outlining the prosecution's case, said Kelly and other policemen were called to a scene in Buckfield on July 29, 2010. The deceased threw a missile and Kelly, in response, shot him to death. Simms said the 12-member jury would have to determine if it were a lawful killing.

Kelly is on bail and is being represented by Queen's Counsels Churchill Neita and Delano Harrison and attorney-at-law Renae Barber.

Lloyd, who was from Pineapple in Ocho Rios, St Ann, stabbed a woman to death prior to the shooting.

The Crown is alleging that the police responded to a call from residents after the stabbing. A constable, who was part of the police team which went to apprehend Lloyd, was allegedly caught on tape beating him while he was on the ground.

It is further alleged that a plain-clothes policeman later shot Lloyd in full view of residents at Buckfield, St Ann.

Supreme Court Judge Marva McDonald Bishop is presiding at the trial.

June trial for cop on 2003 murder charge

Detective Constable Lescene Edwards, who has been before the court since 2003 on a murder charge, is to be tried in the Home Circuit Court on June 24 .

Edwards, 44, appeared in court yesterday but his case could not proceed because of a murder case which has been going on since last week. He is on bail.

He is charged with the murder of 23-year-old Aldonna Harris, who was found on September 10, 2003 at her home on Pinnacle Close, Kingston 20, with a gunshot wound to the head.

A suicide note was found inside the room, but the Crown is alleging that Harris did not write the note.

Harris had reportedly broken off a relationship with Edwards, her children's father, and got married five weeks prior to her death.