Deputy Commissioner of Police Mark Shields. - File

WESTERN BUREAU:

The police High Command is to conduct a review of all cases in which witness statements have been collected from persons who will not physically appear in court.

"The principal point is to ensure the integrity of these cases," Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of crime, Mark Shields, said yesterday. "We are going to be reviewing all the cases under the Evidence Act. That allows us to submit a witness without them giving evidence."

Over 100 cases

Some 100 criminal matters are to be subjected to this review, which will be conducted by DCP Shields and a representative from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Courtroom confession

The moves follow last Tuesday's courtroom confession by a police constable that he had fabricated a witness and accompanying statement in the murder case against a 22-year-old St. James man.

Detective Constable Carey Lyn-Sue, who was attached to the Montego Bay Criminal Investigation Branch (CIB) at the time of the incident, told the court that he submitted the false statement after no one was willing to come forward to give evidence in the matter.