Trial of cops in pregnant woman shooting continues
WESTERN BUREAU: JANICE HINES, the woman who was shot and seriously injured in an incident for which a senior police officer and a district constable are facing charges of unlawful wounding, is to give testimony in the St James Parish Court today when the case against the two lawmen continues.
Senior Superintendent of Police Anthony Castelle and District Constable Rohan McKenzie were arrested and charged following the incident, which occurred along the Mount Salem main road on January 22 last year. Hines, who was shot in her back, was pregnant at the time of the incident.
According to reports, on the day of the incident, Hines was a passenger in the vehicle which was travelling along the Mount Salem main road, when the driver, Lenford Grant, was signalled by the police to stop. Grant disobeyed the order and sped off, and the police gave chase.
It is unclear what happened next, but according to reports, shots were fired and Hines was hit and sustained serious injury. She was rushed to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where she was admitted in serious but stable condition.
Following the incident, Grant was charged with breaches of the Road Traffic Act, but at the time, he said that the attack on his car was unprovoked, and that he had done nothing wrong when the police fired on the car.
Following subsequent investigations, Castelle and McIntosh were arrested on May 18 last year and charged with unlawful wounding by the Independent Commission of Investigations.
When the trial started on Monday, Grant was the first witness for the prosecution. Yesterday, he was cross-examined by the defendants’ legal team.
Hines, who has had a successful delivery since the incident, despite fears that her unborn child would have been affected, is expected to give her account of what happened when she gives her evidence-in-chief today.
It is unclear what happened next, but according to reports, shots were fired and Hines was hit and sustained serious injury. She was rushed to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where she was admitted in serious but stable condition.