A Coroner’s inquest is to be held to determine whether anyone is to be held criminally responsible for the death of Negril teenager, Amanie Wedderburn, who was fatally shot by a police constable in the resort town four months ago.

The Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) has been leading investigations into the case. According to BSI’s administrative officer, Superintendent Ezra Stewart, the inquest is to be carried out inside the coroners court in Westmoreland.

“The DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) has ruled… It (the case) was sent to the coroner’s court in Westmoreland for them to decide whether any person or persons is/are to be held criminally responsible (for the child’s death),” Stewart said.

The superintendent added that if the court could not arrive at a conclusive ruling, the case file would be sent back to the DPP for a final decision. The same course would be adopted, he explained, if the court determined that someone was criminally responsible for the death but was unable to name that individual.

Yesterday, checks with a police source revealed that no court date had yet been set for the case to be heard, and there was no clear indication of when this would be done.

Wedderburn, who was 14 at the time of his death, was killed on the night of May 2 of this year. The police were reportedly called, at about 10:00 pm that night, to respond to a fracas that involved a fruit vendor and three young men who were allegedly using stones to damage the vendor’s produce along the West End main road in Negril.

When the male corporal and a female constable arrived, the three men were nowhere to be seen. But as soon as the cops left, they were called back to the scene, following reports that the men had returned.

One of three men was subsequently pointed out to the lawmen but when they apprehended him, an unruly mob demanded his release. One member of the mob reportedly tried to wrest the young man away from the cops.

A third officer was subsequently called in to assist and members of the crowd allegedly attempted to relieve the lawman of his service revolver.

A struggle reportedly ensued and two rounds were discharged from the cop’s weapon. One of the rounds hit Amanie, who was in the crowd, in the head. He was later pronounced dead at the Savanna-la-mar Hospital.

At the time of his death Amanie, the younger of his father’s two sons, was an eighth-grade student of the Green Island High School in Westmoreland.

The constable who was involved in the incident has since been removed from front-line duty and has been transferred from the station to which he was assigned at the time.

Meanwhile, Wedderburn’s family has been critical of the length of time it has taken to bring the case to a close, and have insisted that the constable whose firearm was discharged was responsible for the young boy’s death.

“I would like justice,” Clifford Wedderburn, father of the slain teen told the Observer earlier this year. “It’s going too long now and we can’t get no justice. I want to see the police man locked up because if I go out there and kill anyone I would be locked up right away.”