DR Jephthah Ford is denying reports elsewhere in the media that he was present at Patrick Bailey’s house when the police arrived after a man was murdered there in September 2016.

Ford, who placed Bailey on bed rest after Germaine Junior’s body was found with more than a dozen stab wounds and a gunshot wound to the right side of his head, said that he was called to the crime scene by an assistant commissioner of police who told him that Bailey was unwell.

“I went there afterwards. I was never there before the police arrived. If I’m there before the police arrived I must have known about the murder. If I’m there before the police arrive… who is the murderer?

“Assistant Commissioner of Police… called me and said that they knew he was my lawyer in the corruption case. They said that he was about to collapse and that is when I drove up there. I wasn’t there before the police…,” Ford told the Jamaica Observer when contacted yesterday.

The Observer contacted a few assistant commissioners of police but all denied any involvement in the case or that they were the one who called Ford.

The Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Corporate Communications Unit said that it could not say who that assistant commissioner of police is, neither could a list of the assistant commissioners of police in 2016 be provided.

At the time of the murder, police reported that Bailey stumbled upon the body around 4:30 am. The knife used was reportedly found beside the body. The deceased was said to be the caretaker of the premises, something his family has since denied.

A relative of the dead man told the Observer last year that Bailey and Junior became close after the attorney represented Junior in a court matter more than 20 years ago.

The relative explained that Junior was shot multiple times by the police in Hope Pastures, St Andrew, after they received a report that a robbery had occurred in the area. The police believed he had matched the description given in the report. The relative said a lawsuit was filed, which Junior won.

The relative said that the two developed a friendship and noted that Junior, who had become a United States citizen through marriage some years later, would occasionally visit Jamaica then return to the US.

Bailey, who, according to initial reports, slept through the murder, was immediately ruled out as a suspect by the police.

Following the incident, Ford instructed that Bailey be confined to bed after he reportedly exhibited signs of being unwell. Ford also said that Bailey was not fit to give a statement at the time. That statement came two weeks later.

In an Observer follow-up in October 2016, the investigating officer, Detective Inspector Simpson, said that Bailey was still not a suspect in the matter.

“No, there is no suspect in custody. Mr Bailey is not a suspect. He gave his statement to the police; that statement was recorded,” Simpson said then.

The police have declined to give an update, saying that “it is an ongoing investigation”.