Still no date for inquest into death of slain Negril teen
THERE is still no clear indication of when the Coroner’s inquest into the May 2 shooting death of Negril teen, Amanie Wedderburn, will be held.
“There is nothing more on it yet,” a police source told the Observer on Thursday.
It was last month that the Director of Public Prosecutions referred the case to the Westmoreland Coroner’s Court to determine whether anyone was to be held criminally responsible for the 14 year-old’s death.
The Constable who was implicated in the incident is, in the meantime, reportedly still off frontline duty.
At about 10:00 pm on the night of May 2, the police were reportedly called to respond to a fracas involving 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 no sooner had the cops left, they were recalled to the scene, following reports that the three men had returned.
One of the trio was later pointed out to the lawmen but when they apprehended him, an unruly mob demanded his release. One member of the mob then reportedly tried to wrest him from the cops and a third police officer was called in to assist.
On his arrival, members of the crowd allegedly tried to relieve him of his service revolver, resulting in a struggle that led to two rounds being discharged from the weapon. The teenager, who was among the crowd at the time, was hit in the head by one of the rounds.
He died later at the Savanna-la-Mar hospital.
He was an eighth-grade student of the Green Island High School in Westmoreland.