WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — The case against the three cops on trial for the beating death of Mario Deane in 2014 was adjourned early Monday due to the crown’s witness being ill.

The revelation was made by the prosecutor from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) when the case was called in the Westmoreland Circuit Court.

The crown revealed that its second witness, Deputy Superintendent of Police Kevin Francis, is under the weather and is currently seeking medical attention.

Supreme Court Judge Justice Courtney Daye then adjourned the case until Tuesday.

Initially, Francis, who started his testimony on Friday, was expected to conclude his presentation Monday.

He was then to be cross-examined by defence lawyers Dalton Reid, who represents Constable Juliana Clevon, and Martyn Thomas, who represents Grant Corporal Elaine Stewart, and Constable Marlon Grant; all charged with manslaughter, perverting the course of justice, and misconduct in a public office.

The crown was then expected to call its third witness, a police corporal, on Wednesday.

The allegations are that Deane was arrested for possession of a ganja spliff and placed in custody, where he was brutally beaten on August 3, 2014. Deane received severe injuries to his brain, which left him in a coma. He died three days later at Cornwall Regional Hospital in St James.

It is alleged that the three cops were on duty at the police station at the time when Deane was beaten. It is further alleged that Corporal Stewart instructed that the cell in which the attack took place be cleaned before the arrival of investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom).

— Anthony Lewis