Court hearing for C&W worker soon - Other implicated in wire-tap case reportedly off island

By Glenroy Sinclair, Staff Reporter

THE POLICE are now completing documentation to put Devon Francis, an employee of Cable and Wireless before the courts by next week, Assistant Commissioner of Police Osbourne Dyer told The Gleaner yesterday.

The other employee, Suzette Gibson, who Director of Public Prosecutions Kent Pantry ruled should be charged, along with former army officer, Roderick McGregor for breaching the Public Utilities Protection Act, is reported to be off the island on vacation in the United States.

The three were ordered charged in connection with the illegal wire-tapping of the telephones of several public officials, including those of government ministers and Deputy Commissioner of Police Owen Clunie as investigations into alleged drug trafficking proceeded last year.

Gibson, a 22-year-old customer service clerk at the Pavilion Branch on Constant Spring Road, St. Andrew, left the island for New York one week before Mr. Pantry's August 3 ruling.

"We understand that she is on vacation. When she returns we will be putting her before the court," ACP Dyer said yesterday.

Responding to questions about whether Miss Gibson and Mr. Francis were still employed to C&W, public relations manager, Errol Miller said: "Our system shows that they still work here."

On August 3, the DPP ruled that the two Cable and Wireless employees and McGregor, the alleged head of a civilian intelligence unit which used wire-taps to garner information on alleged drug deals, be charged for tampering with the works of the company.

The DPP also said there was evidence to establish that McGregor caused listening devices to be attached to the telephone lines of persons and that Francis and Gibson assisted and facilitated the process.

Both Cable and Wireless employees are also to be charged under Section 4(b) of Public Utilities Protection Act, for using the works in a manner inconsistent with the expressed or implied authority of Cable and Wireless.

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