THE four policemen implicated in the controversial shooting death of 18-year-old Grant's Pen resident, Andre Thomas, in September were yesterday charged with murder.

The cops - Noel Bryan, Phillip Dunstan, Clayton Fearon and Omar Miller - who are all assigned to the Constant Spring Police Station, appeared in the Half-Way-Tree Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday where the court was told of the ruling made by the director of public prosecutions.

When they first appeared in court on October 8, the four cops were charged with perverting the course of justice after being accused of effecting changes to the police service vehicle they used to transport Thomas to hospital after he was allegedly shot and injured by police on September 28. On that charge they were each granted $200,000 bail and ordered to report once per week to the Police Commissioner's Office on Old Hope Road, and to surrender their travel documents to the commissioner.

When the four appeared in court yesterday to answer to the murder charge, the bail amount was raised to $1 million each. It was not immediately clear if the initial bail conditions were also altered.

The men are scheduled to return to court on January 8.
Thomas' death sparked much public outcry, especially among local human rights watchdog Jamaicans for Justice who had claimed that Thomas' death was considered a 'cold-blooded murder' by his family and members of the Grants Pen community.

The police have, however, denied this account of Thomas' death, saying that he was fatally shot during a shoot-out with the police.

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