DESPITE attempts to stop her, a female juror on Friday insisted on praying at the close of the day’s proceedings in the murder trial of six policemen in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston.

The six cops are on trial in relation to the January 12, 2013 shooting deaths of Matthew Lee, Ucliffe Dyer and Mark Allen. The men were killed by the police in an alleged shoot-out on Acadia Drive in St Andrew, close to the intersection with Evans Avenue.

Trial Judge Sonia Bertram-Linton was in the process of releasing the seven-member jury for the day on Friday when the female juror stood up, holding a set of papers in her hand, and indicated to the judge that there was something she had to do.

She told the judge that she had to pray inside the courtroom, and offered the papers to her. But Bertram-Linton explained to the juror that this was not allowed.

The posture of the determined juror gave the impression that she was not going to leave the courtroom until she prayed.

While the defence team sat quietly observing what was happening, prosecutor Kathy-Ann Pyke urged the judge to allow the juror to privately explain the details of what she was purporting to do. The juror seemed willing to explain in open court but Pyke did not want her reasons to be heard by everyone in the courtroom.

A registrar of the court was given the task of carrying messages between the juror and the judge. At one point the juror declared that she was going down on her knees “now”, which she did.

The prayer, which she uttered under her breath, was read from the papers she had in her hands after they were returned to her by the registrar.

All activities inside the courtroom paused during the prayer, which lasted a few minutes.

After the prayer the juror stood up and said thank you to the judge.

Bertram-Linton explained that she was aware that the juror has her religious obligations which she takes very seriously.

Some weeks ago Bertram-Linton had reprimanded the cops on trial for praying inside the courtroom.

At that time the judge warned the cops that they should not be inside the courtroom at any point, outside of when the trial was in session.

On trial are Sergeant Simroy Mott and Corporal Donovan Fullerton, along with constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose, and Richard Lynch. Corporal Fullerton is also charged with making a false statement to Indecom. Their attorneys are Hugh Wildman, Althea Grant-Coppin and John Jacobs.

An officer of the Independent Commission of Investigations (Indecom) was among the people inside the courtroom during the juror’s prayer.

Before the prayer the witness had been answering questions from Pyke during her examination-in-chief.

He told the court that he had investigated more than 100 cases for Indecom during his employment there. He said that five or six of those cases ended up before the courts and that this was not his first time participating in a trial as an officer of Indecom.