RESIDENTS of Trench Town in Kingston yesterday vowed to step up their protest against Sunday’s fatal shooting of 24 year-old Haggart McGrath, alias “Andrew Phang”, by the police.

At the same time, the residents, who staged a demonstration on Spanish Town Road in the vicinity of Collie Smith Drive, demanded the removal of Deputy Superintendent Delroy Hewitt from the West Kingston Police Division and said they would continue the protest until that demand is met.

According to the residents, Hewitt was one of several policemen who verbally and physically abused them during Sunday’s incident, leading to a souring of relations between them and members of the security forces.

The residents say that McGrath was killed in cold blood and not in a shoot-out as was being claimed by the police.

Police who were called to the scene of yesterday’s demonstration were forced to use tear-gas to disperse the angry protestors.

A spokesperson for the residents, Sonia Whyte, who is also a member of the Trench Town Community Conflict Resolution Committee, said residents have made arrangements to document their grouse with the Police Public Complaints Authority.

When the Observer visited the community yesterday, Karen Branch, McGrath’s common-law wife, had to be comforted by friends and family members as she was overcome with grief.

Family members said Branch, who is pregnant, lived with McGrath and was at home at the time of the incident.

Branch also claimed that she was roughed up by members of the security forces.