Mark Beckford, Staff Reporter

Four policemen were yesterday charged with the murder of 19-year-old André Thomas of Grants Pen, St. Andrew, when they appeared in the Half-Way Tree Criminal Court.

They are scheduled to reappear in court on January 8.

The four are Noel Bryan, Phillip Dunstan, Clayton Fearon and Omar Miller. The four policemen were charged after an October ruling by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Thomas was shot under controversial circumstances on September 28.

The shooting had drawn the ire of the residents of Grants Pen who for days staged demonstrations protesting what they described as cold-blooded murder.

According to initial police reports, members of a police party were on patrol in the Grants Pen community when they saw a group of men acting suspiciously.

On the approach of the lawmen, one of the men allegedly pointed a firearm at them; the police took evasive action and opened fire hitting one of them. A Raven .25 automatic pistol with the serial number erased and a magazine containing five .25 cartridges was reportedly found in Thomas' possession. The other men at the scene ran and made good their escape.

Residents' story

However, residents rejected this story and said that a group of men was sitting on a shop piazza on the gully side, when a group of policemen approached them and started to question them.

The residents said the police ordered them out of their house, but when Thomas refused, police started to abuse him. The residents said that during Thomas' protest he was shot. Residents also said that Thomas received additional bullet wounds other to the ones he left the scene of the incident with.

Following the protests, controversy deepened as the four policemen disobeyed an order to return the service vehicle to the Police High Command. The four were ordered arrested by the DPP.

They were yesterday each offered bail in the sum of $1 million. More than 260 persons have been killed by the police in shootings this year.

Meanwhile, Nancy Anderson, human rights lawyer with the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights, has welcomed the development in the case, saying that it should be the procedure in all cases.

"We have been calling for proper investigation and bringing persons before the court to prove whether they are guilty or not," she told The Gleaner. That is what should be done when there is a death which appears to be a murder," she said.