SPANISH TOWN, St Catherine – A magistrate on Tuesday chided the police for poor record-keeping which has stalled the trial of a cop accused of murder in the shooting death of a St Catherine man in 2001.

Constable Basil Hutchinson of the Spanish Town police has been on suspension since 2004 when the director of public prosecutions, after reviewing the case file, ruled that he be charged with murder in relation to the death of Magarvy Smith, a 21-year-old man who lived at Frazer’s Content,

St Catherine.

Smith was killed in what the cops say was a shoot-out during a police operation in Frazer’s Content. Police say a .38 pistol was taken from his body after they returned fire on a group of men.

On Tuesday, Constable Hutchinson’s attorney, Clinton Colman, was livid that the matter had not yet been dealt with by the courts because the procedure following the issuing of firearms to policemen was not followed.

Colman told senior St Catherine Resident Magistrate Lorna Errar-Gayle that a handwriting issue was holding up the case. He explained that the police supervisor had failed to ensure that the firearm issued to Hutchinson was properly logged, hence, there was some dispute over the identity of the cop who was issued with the gun implicated in the shooting.

This drew the ire of the judge, who was harshly critical of the procedures used by the police. She cited the Janice Allen case in which pages of the station diary went missing, thereby affecting the outcome of the case which has been described by former Police Commissioner Francis Forbes as a miscarriage

of justice.

Errar-Gayle instructed Sergeant Zelfa McIntosh of the Bureau of Special Investigation to get the information and present it to court on April 12. At the same time, the judge extended Hutchinson’s bail and postponed the case to April 12 for a subsequent mention date.