HUMAN rights watchdog, Amnesty International, says Monday’s not guilty verdict in the Janice Allen case was yet another indication that the Jamaican government lacked the political will to stop extra-judicial police killings.

“Jamaica has one of the world’s highest rates of police killings. Yet not one police officer has been held accountable through the courts,” the London-based rights group said in a release yesterday. “Whether through unwillingness or sheer incompetence, (Monday’s) events suggest that this culture of impunity will continue.”

Constable Rohan Allen – the police officer charged with the April 2000 murder of the young teenager – walked free on Monday after a jury returned a not guilty verdict on the basis of a lack of evidence.

The verdict came after the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) said three crucial pieces or sources of evidence that linked the policeman to the gun used in the killing, were missing.

Among the missing items was the record of the issuing of the gun, which is alleged to have gone up in smoke during a fire at the Denham Town Police Station; and a statement from the investigating officer in which the accused cop reportedly admitted to having fired the gun that killed Allen. That statement was unavailable since the investigator has since left the island. In addition, there was no identification, from the witness box, of the accused policeman as the killer.

“The investigation of Janice Allen’s death has been marred by witness intimidation, official incompetence and delay,”

Amnesty said in its release. It added that it has thrown its support behind the slain teen’s family and any local human rights organisation should they opt to take the matter to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IAHRC).

Yesterday, local rights group, Jamaicans for Justice – which has also been harshly critical of the ruling – was talking to its lawyers, trying to decide whether to refer the issue to the IACHR.