SAVANNA-LA-MAR, Westmoreland — Following a series of delays, including challenges in securing witnesses for Thursday and Friday, the presiding judge in the Mario Deane case has warned that the case is dangerously encroaching on time.

Three members of the constabulary are currently on trial in the Westmoreland Circuit Court for the incident in which Deane was beaten in 2014.

The three are District Constable Marlon Grant, Corporal Elaine Stewart, and Constable Juliana Clevon, who are all charged with manslaughter and misconduct in a public office.

“We are trespassing on time, dangerous trespass because we have limited time,” warned Justice Courtney Daye.

“In terms of time, we will have to ask the jury if we can start at 9:00. We will have to start an hour earlier and utilise it properly,” added Justice Daye, who noted that during this period, no other matters can be dealt with.

It was later agreed that court would start an hour earlier than the usual 10:00 am, following an affirmation from the seven-member jury’s foreman, who told the judge that the jury was willing to put in the time.

During a case management hearing in February, it was revealed that evidence in the case that started in March three was expected to be presented over 25 days. Fifteen days of testimony have been presented in the case to date.

The Crown indicated Wednesday that it was having difficulty securing witnesses for Thursday and Friday, but indicated that all should be in place for Monday.

Earlier in the day, the Crown told the court that it needed time to finalise arrangements with a witness who was expected to take the stand for the first time on Wednesday.

The case was, however, also stood down for more than two hours due to the absence of the seventh witness, a crime scene investigator, who testified on Tuesday and was scheduled to continue with his testimony in chief on Wednesday in the Westmoreland Circuit Court.

The crime scene investigator later arrived with a copy of a CD that the court had requested on Tuesday. The CD contained images taken at the cell block where Deane was beaten. The photographs were taken by the witness during his processing of the scene on August 3, 2014.

The witness, when asked about securing a crime scene, told the court that a crime scene should be cordoned off and secured to prevent any interference by people nearby.

The Crown later told the court that there was an agreement with the defence team to have certain images from the CD mentioned earlier shown in court, and the CD was subsequently tendered and admitted into evidence as Exhibit Three.

The images were that of a red substance resembling blood on the ground outside the cell block that came from a drain pipe attached to the cell block, spattering blood on the floor inside and outside cell number four and the lower section of the wall of the passageway in front of the cell in question. A cloudy white liquid was also seen in a concrete washbasin, and on the floor inside the cell in question.

Cell number four is the cell where the incident with Deane took place.

Allegations in the case are that Deane was arrested for possession of a ganja spliff and placed in custody, where he was brutally beaten on August 3, 2014. He sustained 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 when Deane was beaten. It is further alleged that Corporal Stewart, who has an additional charge of perverting the course of justice, instructed that the cell in which the attack took place be cleaned before the arrival of investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations.

The case was adjourned until Monday, April 14 at 9:00 am.