WESTMORELAND, Jamaica — Corporal Elaine Stewart, who will appeal the five-year sentence she was handed for her culpability in Mario Deane’s 2014 death, wept openly in the Westmoreland Circuit Court Tuesday evening after the case was adjourned.
It had been a long day with a lengthy run-up by Justice Courtney Daye in which he provided his rationale for the sentences handed down. All three convicted cops walked out of the courthouse, Stewart on bail pending her appeal, with District constables Marlon Grant and Juliana Clevon’s three-year sentences suspended. All three were found guilty on May 22 of manslaughter and misconduct in a public office. Stewart was additionally found guilty of perverting the course of justice.
Justice Daye drew heavily on previous court cases as he went through each of the sentences in a long-awaited trial that had been keenly watched.
“There is a strong demand that manslaughter involving gross negligence in police custody should warrant a custodial sentence,” he said.
He shared his view on what he thought was an appropriate range for that sentence.
“It seems to me that the range is somewhere just about seven years,” stated Justice Daye.
That was used as the starting point for Stewart’s sentencing for the manslaughter by gross negligence charge. While Stewart was a supervisor, the other two were not, and as a result, their starting point was five years.
From there, additional years were added and subtracted based on factors specific to each individual, and the impact statement from Mario Deane’s mother, Mercia Fraser.
Justice Daye gave an example of the caring nature of the cops while carrying out their duties, as described by one of the Crown’s witnesses during the trial. That witness was in custody at the Barnett Street Police Station lockup in St James during the time of Deane’s fatal beating.
“What we see here is that each of the accused, something on the evidence is positive about them in terms of the offence. In other words, in the Crown’s case, there is evidence of good character on the job,” explained Justice Daye.
On the charge of misconduct in a public office, all three were sentenced to a year in jail. For Grant and Clevon, that sentence was suspended for two years, while for Stewart it was suspended for a year. On the charge of perverting the course of justice, Stewart was sentenced to one year in jail.
Justice Daye pointed out that these charges were not a felony but a misdemeanour, which means less jail time. In addition, discounts were applied. All sentences are to run concurrently.
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.
The three cops were on duty at the police station when Deane was beaten by other inmates. Stewart instructed that the cell in which the attack took place be cleaned before the arrival of investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations.
Inmates Marvin Orr, Adrian Morgan and Damion Cargill were charged in connection with Deane’s death, but none did jail time.
In July 2017, Cargill was judged unfit to stand trial and released into his family’s care.
On July 29, 2020, Orr and Morgan pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the St James Circuit Court. The next day, Supreme Court Judge Justice Glen Brown sentenced them to five years and six months in prison but they were freed on the basis of time served.