On July 31, 2017, Jamaican athlete Riker Hylton will know the ruling of the Independent Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel regarding whether he committed an anti-doping violation.

The disciplinary hearing came to an end at the wJamaica Conference Centre in Kingston yesterday after Hylton gave evidence that refuted claims by the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO).The local anti-doping commission alleges that Hylton, a 400-metre relay bronze medallist at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, Republic of Korea, and a semi-finalist in the individual 400m race at that same championships, breached Article 2.3 of the World Anti-Doping Agency code.Such a violation speaks to evading testing sample collection or refusing to submit a sample.Yesterday, Hylton insisted he was not notified of selection for doping control tests while he sat out training at the Stadium East facility on the morning of April 27 last year due to an injured ankle.“No one approached me,” said Hylton during examination-in-chief by his legal representative Dr Emir Crowne.During his time on the witness stand, Hylton said that after training on April 27 his coach Bertland Cameron met with JADCO Executive Director Carey Brown at the commission’s headquarters in Half-Way-Tree.The 400m runner said he and fellow athletes Christine Day and Kaliese Spencer and athletes’ agent Marvin Anderson were also present.Hylton testified that Cameron told Brown that his athletes were available for testing after the “misunderstanding” earlier that morning.According to Hylton, the JADCO boss told the coach that testing the athletes at that point was not necessary.Hylton told the panel that Brown’s actions then suggested the matter was settled.There was drama at the start of the hearing yesterday after Robinson requested to re-examine Brown — to which Dr Crowne objected, citing that the JADCO exec was already dismissed from the stand on Tuesday.Crowne and Robinson then clashed over a signed witness statement that Brown had claimed on Tuesday was in JADCO’s possession. The panel then requested to have the statement, but JADCO did not comply.In turn, Crowne charged that JADCO’s move was prejudicial and he called for the case to be thrown out on the grounds of obstruction of natural justice. But the panel brushed aside that motion and proceeded with the hearing.Meanwhile, Crowne also called Jonique Day and Anderson to the stand yesterday. Cameron was not present to testify after recently undergoing surgery.A teleconference was also ruled out after the panel, chaired by Georgia Gibson Henlin, QC, heard that the coach’s condition would not allow him to speak on the phone for more than five minutes at a time.The panel, which also comprises Dr Japheth Ford and Denise Forrest, accepted Dr Crowne’s request to have Cameron’s signed statement admitted as hearsay.Hylton, who has been provisionally suspended since February 2017, can be banned up to a maximum of four years if found guilty.Jamaica’s 400m hurdles star Spencer is also awaiting ruling arising from a similar allegation in a separate case.On Tuesday’s opening day of the hearing, Damon Smith, a JADCO chaperone, testified that Hylton refused to make himself available for sample testing when approached during a training session.Yesterday, however, Hylton said he was about 10 metres away from JADCO personnel at times while he sat at the venue.He reiterated that he “was not approached by anybody” when cross-examined by Lackston Robinson, the attorney representing JADCO. The athlete opined that on a whole the JADCO staff appeared “confused” and unsure of what to do.While on the stand, Anderson said during the meeting with Brown, Tajae Smith, a doping control officer at JADCO, shook his head when Brown asked if athletes were notified of selection for testing.Anderson, who also claimed Brown turned down Cameron’s suggestion to have the athletes tested at JADCO, said the local anti-doping boss stressed the need to “protect rights of athletes”.Under cross-examination by Robinson, Anderson said he filled a visitors’ log for himself, Day, Hylton, Spencer and Cameron when they went to JADCO’s offices.Robinson presented closed-circuit television footage that showed the five entering the lobby, but no one appeared to write in the log book.Though conceding the footage did not show it, Anderson insisted he “signed that book” even as Robinson asked to have the video entered into evidence with the purpose being to “impugn witness credibility”.During re-examination of Anderson, Crowne explored the possibility that an earlier timeline of the video could show the agent entering the lobby and writing the names before stepping outside and then re-entering.JADCO agreed to have an earlier cut of the video sent to Crowne and the disciplinary panel today.