WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — One of two defence lawyers in the trial of the three cops charged in the 2014 fatal beating of Mario Deane while in police custody has concluded his summation of the case to the seven-member jury.

During Monday’s sitting of the Westmoreland Circuit Court, Martyn Thomas painted the prosecution’s star witness as someone who cannot be trusted.

The witness in question was an inmate at the Barnett Street Police Station lockup in 2014 who gave a chilling account of Dean’s beating and the reaction of the cops when they were told what happened to Deane.

During the Crown’s summation last week Monday, prosecutors also tried to convince the jury that they could believe his testimony.

On Monday, Thomas argued that on August 11, 2014, the witness told the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) something different from what he told the court during the trial. Thomas told the court that the witness was a “pathological liar” who had concocted his account of what took place on the day Deane was beaten.

Thomas said the prosecution did not get evidence from the witness that he was having a big problem at the lockup and wanted to move. It was revealed in court that the witness was hosted at two other lockups, including Hanover.

Thomas also brought into question the testimony of a former senior investigator at Indecom, Mollie Plummer, who he said had 10 years to prepare for court but failed to do so. Thomas said he counted 16 times that Plummer told the court that she could not recall aspects of her statement.

The three accused are Corporal Elaine Stewart and District Constables Marlon Grant and Juliana Clevon, all of whom are charged with manslaughter and misconduct in a public office.

Thomas is representing Stewart and Grant, while Clevon is being represented by Dalton Reid.

Reid is expected to make his presentation to the jury on Monday.

The 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 the 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 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 Indecom investigators.

— Anthony Lewis