A 21-year-old man on a murder charge was remanded in absentia by Justice Kaysha Grant on Friday after the St James Parish Court learnt that he was in hospital being treated for injuries sustained during a shooting incident with the police.

Kirk Lawson, otherwise called Kirky, of Colombia Square in Norwood, St James, is charged in relation to the fatal shooting of 32-year-old DeVito Barnett, otherwise called Biggs, of Cherry Gardens, also in Norwood.

According to court records, on October 7, 2022 about 7:15 pm, residents reported hearing multiple loud explosions that sounded like gunshots along the Hendon Norwood main road, and called the police.

When the police arrived Barnett was found lying on his back in a pool of blood along the road. He had several gunshot wounds to the upper body.

He was rushed to Cornwall Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Lawson was subsequently charged.

The matter is set for mention on March 23.

Lawson was also arrested in connection with a police shooting on Light Body Avenue in the parish on February 18, but that case was not heard in court on Friday.

He was charged with wounding with intent, possession of a prohibited weapon, and two counts of shooting with intent in that case.

Police report that about 9:50 pm lawmen were on operation in the area when they saw Lawson walking along the road.

His actions, they said, aroused suspicion, and when they approached Lawson he reportedly shot at the team, who responded in similar fashion. During the exchange one of the cops was shot. He was taken to hospital for treatment.

Lawson later turned up at the hospital with a gunshot wound and was subsequently held and placed under police guard.

He was charged on February 28 following a question-and-answer session in the presence of his attorney.

Inmate allegedly stabs cop at police lock-up over food

A St James man accused of stabbing a policeman at the Montego Bay Police Station lock-up, after not getting the food he wanted, was remanded when he appeared in the St James Parish Court on Friday.

Oral Woodburn, who is represented by attorney-at-law Adrian Dayes, is facing a charge of unlawful wounding.

A trial was held in the case but one witness is being recalled. As a result, presiding Parish Judge Kaysha Grant remanded Woodburn until March 20 when the case is scheduled to return to court.

According to court records, the policeman was stabbed to the right side of his face, close to his eye, by the accused on November 3, 2021, about 6:15 am.

The stabbing was alleged to be the consequence of an altercation the day before in which Woodburn was accused of behaving boisterously and threatened to “run something” into the cop because he did not receive his desired food item.