Cops in Mario Deane trial ignored prisoners' calls for help, witness testifies

A former inmate at the Barnett Street Police Station lock-up where Mario Deane was beaten on August 3, 2014, today told the Westmoreland Circuit Court that the three police personnel charged with Deane's death ignored alarms raised by other prisoners when violence erupted at the cell block on that day.

The witness, who began his evidence-in-chief on Monday, and who is currently in police custody, said that the incident happened after the defendants, Corporal Elaine Stewart and Constables Juliana Clevon and Marlon Grant, put a new prisoner into a cell with several inmates of unsound mind.

According to the witness, the new prisoner, who he did not identify by name, was previously in a different cell before the defendants removed him to process his bail.

However, a short while later, the defendants brought the prisoner back to the cell block while accusing him of disrespecting them.

The witness further testified that the prisoner was placed in a cell shared by three mentally ill inmates.

Shortly after, the witness and his cellmates heard sounds of fighting in that cell, but when they tried to raise an alarm, the defendants rebuffed them.

The trial is currently still ongoing.

Stewart, Clevon, and Grant are charged with manslaughter and misconduct in a public office, arising from Deane's death on August 6, 2014, three days after he was beaten while in custody at the Barnett Street lock-up for possession of a ganja spliff.

Stewart is also charged with perverting the course of justice, under allegations that she ordered the cleaning of the cell where Deane was beaten, prior to the arrival of investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations.

- Christopher Thomas

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