KERRY Foster, who was arrested in September 2005 and charged with murder, says his bail application has been turned down several times because the police are yet to collect and hand over the gunshot residue swab report to the court. The report, he said, is needed for the judge to decide whether or not he should get bail.

Foster, 23, was one of two men charged by the Portmore police for the shooting death of Roy Griffiths at Two East, Greater Portmore, on September 21, 2005 at about 12:30 pm. Also charged for Griffith’s death was Kirk Thompson.

Foster’s mother, Elaine Henry, told the Observer that her son was detained by the police on September 21 at 1:30 pm on his way home from the Greater Portmore Health Centre where he had gone to pay for a food handlers’ permit.

“My son’s hands were swabbed for gunshot residue the same afternoon he was arrested and the swab sent to the police Forensic Department,” Henry said.

Foster first appeared in the Gun Court on October 12, 2005, at which time Althea Grant, the attorney-at-law representing him, made an application for him to get bail. However, the investigating officer told the judge that the file was not ready, Henry said.

Foster next tried to get bail on November 18, but the judge said that the detainee could not be released until the court was informed of the result of the gunshot residue swab test. This time, the court was told that the machine used to do the test at the Forensic Lab had broken down.

Foster’s attempts to get bail on December 16, 2005 and January 18, 2006 were again hampered by the out-of-service machine at the Forensic Lab, but by February 8, when Foster next appeared in court the machine was back in service. However, the swab report was still not ready because of a backlog at the lab, the court was told.

Superintendent Fred Hibbert, head of the Police Forensic Department, told the Observer that the report has been ready since late March. He said that the procedure was for the investigator or his senior officer to collect and sign for the report.

“The report has been prepared and ready from late March. The clerk of the court will call us if the court thinks there is an unusually long delay. The court hasn’t called the Forensic Department,” Hibbert said.

Since March, Foster has appeared in court six times in an effort to get bail, but on only one occasion the investigator came to court, and after the judge sent for him. The policeman, however, told the court that he had not collected the report.

Superintendent Terrence Bent of the Greater Portmore Police Station told the Observer on June 5, that the report would have been collected, but the detective still did not collect it.

Superintendent Bent said that the judge had the authority to compel the police to bring the forensic report to court

In the meantime, Foster continues to languish in jail and is scheduled to appear in the Gun Court again on August 3.