The Mario Deane case

[RichD]

this is a crying shame. so the police pull in the ute for one spliff. him end up beaten to death while in custody.

police sey is his cell mates beat him and charge two of dem.

[RichD]

Class, Colour At The Root Of Mario Deane's Death - MP

Published: Tuesday | August 12, 20143 Comments



Dr Dayton Campbell




Claudia Gardner, Assignment Coordinator
WESTERN BUREAU:
Dr Dayton Campbell, the member of parliament for North West St Ann, says classism and 'shadeism' was at the root of the death of Montego Bay construction worker Mario Deane, who succumbed to injuries after being severely beaten while in police lock-up last week.
"This case is not about marijuana. It does not matter what he was arrested for. The real matter is the treatment that he got while he was in custody. The real matter is the treatment that he got when he was incarcerated," Campbell said.
The MP's comments came during his keynote address at the annual conference of the People's National Party's East Central St James Constituency Conference and presentation of attorney-at-law Ashley-Ann Foster as constituency chairman on Sunday night.
Deane's death has triggered national condemnation, and both Justice Minister Mark Golding and National Security Minister Peter Bunting have sought advice from the attorney general on whether the police could be asked not to arrest persons who are in possession of small portions of ganja.
On Sunday, Campbell said "if dat did happen to one a dem bwoy from uptown, wid dem brown self and pretty hair ... dat woulda neva happen."
SERIOUS HEAD INJURIES
Deane died on Independence Day at the Cornwall Regional Hospital after suffering from serious head injuries he received at the Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay just hours after he was arrested for possession of a ganja spliff three days earlier. Up to the time of his death, he never regained consciousness.
The police have since charged two inmates for Deane's murder.
Campbell said regardless of who carried out the beating of the 31-year-old, the police should still be held responsible for his death.
"The real matter at hand is social injustice, and for too long we, the people, the majority in this country, have been pushed to the back. We must rise up and step forward. Because I could be Mario Deane - and me no smoke weed - so me coulda end up in deh fi something else ... . Now if it is that he was beaten by the police, then God Almighty, we must rise up and condemn that," he said.

[RichD]

The police have charged two men with murder, in relation to the death of 31-year-old Mario Deane of Rosemount, St James.

Mr Deane died as a result of injuries he received while in custody at the Barnett Street Police Station in Montego Bay St James last Sunday.

Those charged are 35-year-old Marvin Orr, a labourer of Bestwell, Port Antonio in Portland, and 25-year-old Adrian Morgan, a labourer of Petersville, Westmoreland. They are scheduled to appear in the Montego Bay Residents Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday, August 13.

The police say that Deane was arrested for possession of ganja about 7:30 am on Sunday, and while in custody officers were reportedly alerted to a brawl in the lock-up where he was being held. He was taken to hospital by the police for treatment, but succumbed to his injuries on Wednesday, August 6.

The explanation given by the police has been angrily challenged by Deane's relatives and friends, who have staged several street protests, accusing the police of being the ones who beat him to death. That has been strongly denied by the police.

The circumstances surrounding Deane's death are being probed by the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM).

[Gen]

at first they said he fell from a bunk bed

dem really think seh people bawn big

now dem charge the 2 prisoners that had nothing to do with it

yuh supposed to be "safe" in police "custody"

i don't see it getting any better anytime soon, sad to say. 50 years from same ting a gwaan

[jah_yout]

this is a crying shame. so the police pull in the ute for one spliff. him end up beaten to death while in custody.

police sey is his cell mates beat him and charge two of dem.

Jamaica will relax ganja laws once America tells them it is alright to do so...
independent my arse

[RichD]

Jamaica will relax ganja laws once America tells them it is alright to do so...
independent my arse

the ganja law debate is just a distraction from the issue of how the state treating poor ppl .

[Gen]

not about ganga debate real issue is police brutality

he (or anyone else) could have been arrested for anything, backchat to the police , loitering or whatever and end up dead in custody


i remember the case of the lady and her sister that got shot by police in the market a while back \0/ (cause she did cuss badwud)

a mean really ?? yuh get shot fi cuss badword ???? kmdt

\0/ i. just. cant

[Gen]

dem can save the ganga debate for another time and place

[RichD]

i remember hearing a guy on the radio call Motty Perkins talking bout how police treat him...he riding his bicycle to work and past a place where people had blocked the road with stones so police out there clearing and dem call him "eh bwoy come move dem stone" so him tell dem sey him nuh have time him a go work dem drape him off di bicycle and box box him up point gun in his face.

[RichD]

MONTEGO BAY, St James — Mario Deane was allegedly beaten and stabbed by three men in a cell he shared with them at the Barnett Street lock-up over the use of a bunk bed, the court heard yesterday.
One of the accused, Marvin Orr, who was described by his attorney Stacy Young as "schizophrenic" and a substance abuser, was denied bail by Senior Resident Magistrate Carolin Tie when he faced the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.
In her bail application, Young said her client was in need of medication and would not be able to access it while in custody, and suggested a private facility where he was once a patient. RM Tie, however, said he could be treated at the psychiatric facilities at the Tower Street Adult Correctional facility in Kingston.
Orr and Adrian Morgan were both charged in connection with Deane's death, but Morgan was not in court yesterday as he was said to have been getting psychiatric treatment, on order of the court, in connection with another case. A third man who the court heard is deaf/mute was being questioned and was expected to be charged as well.
The court was told that the police were alerted to a 'situation' in cell number four where Deane was being held with four others. When the door was opened by the police Deane was found lying on the floor and bleeding from the head. An ambulance was called and five minutes later he was taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital, the court heard yesterday.
The court also heard that when a police officer cautioned the men in the cell, she was allegedly told that Orr said he owned the bunk beds and when Deane sat on one of them he (Orr) jumped on it and pushed the now deceased man off it, after which a fight started.
An inmate who attempted to separate the three accused men from Deane was unsuccessful, the court was told.
The deaf/mute man is alleged to have punched Deane and one of cellmates allegedly took off Deane's shoes and used it to hit him repeatedly in the face. The beating was said to have gone on for about 30 minutes.
Yesterday, attorney-at-law Roy Fairclough, who told the court he was approached by Morgan's family, described the case as one with "many twists and turns", adding that time will be needed to study the evidence before the court can start its deliberation.
He, however, charged that the Jamaican Government and the police were using the two accused men as "scapegoats", claiming that "the police at Barnett Street had serious questions to answer as to how Deane came to his death. If you lock him up it is your responsibility to ensure he is safe and is no danger to himself or anyone else".
RM Tie, meanwhile, upheld the prosecution's objection to bail being offered to Orr, who, in addition to the murder of Deane, is facing charges of burglary, malicious destruction of property, resisting arrest and possession of ganja.
The accused were booked to return to court on September 18 when the charges against them will be mentioned.
Deane, 31, died on August 6, three days after he was severely beaten while in police custody at the Barnett Street police lock-up. He had been arrested hours before for a ganja cigarette.
The court heard yesterday that Deane's bail process was interrupted twice in less than two hours -- the first time when he was being given bail on his own surety but refused to give the police directions to his home; and again when he allegedly failed to cooperate and was said to be behaving "boisterously". He is alleged to have said he did not like the police when a surety came to bail him and was sent back to the cell and his surety asked to return in the afternoon.
Several people who participated in a massive protest against Deane's death in this city earlier this week were seen in the vicinity of the court yesterday, while his parents and family members were in court to observe the proceedings.
Police officers who were on duty on the day Deane was beaten were interdicted on Tuesday, while the district constables were suspended