ROSEAU, Dominica (CMC) — Five police officers appeared in court yesterday in relation to the death of Joshua Etienne, whose body was found in his cell at a police station in Portsmouth, north of here, on August 5.

Before the charges were read, one of the defence lawyers, Lennox Lawrence, made an application arguing that the charges were unlawful and irregular and as a result should not be read to the accused.

He told the court that there were several grounds he would like to argue before the charges are read, a position which Director of Public Prosecution Evelina Baptiste had no objection to.

The five officers were detained after an autopsy was done on the body of Etienne, who had been arrested on August 4, for the alleged possession of ammunition.

Last week, Police Commissioner Daniel Carbon described the death of the man in police custody as a homicide.

“This incident where Joshua Etienne was found dead has always been treated as a very serious incident. From the outset of the investigations we’ve been treating it as a homicide,” he said on the state-owned DBS radio. “I can assure the general public that there is going to be no cover up, the investigation is going to be very transparent,” he added.