AndemTHE POLICE will not be putting any special measures in place to facilitate Jamaica's number one fugitive, Joel Andem, if he decides to surrender as he is contemplating in a much-publicised television interview.
"He just needs to go to any police station with his lawyer," said Superintendent A.J. Forbes, head of the Constabulary Communication Network (CCN), yesterday.
In Sunday's edition of Television Jamaica's (TVJ) one-hour current affairs programme, Exposure, an interviewee believed to be Andem, said he was willing to turn himself over to the police. He is wanted by the police in connection with the death of gas station owner Sylvia Edwards among other crimes.
"If it's indeed Joel Andem [on the interview] and he wishes to hand himself over, he can go to any police station with his attorney, or any justice of the peace, minister of religion or somebody with whom he feels comfortable," the superintendent said.
For his part, the police Metro Crime Officer, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Tony Hewitt echoed similar sentiments to Supt. Forbes: "I don't think the police would have to set up any special facility for him to give himself in," he told The Gleaner. "He could go to any one of the police stations, a minister of religion or anybody for that matter."
The SSP cited the recent case of former Arnett Gardens' don Tony Welch, whose lawyer Norma Linton, handed him over to the police after Welch was reportedly involved in a shoot-out with the police. "Mr. Andem is no different," SSP Hewitt added.
Monsignor Richard Albert told The Gleaner yesterday that he has already made an offer to Mr. Andem to turn him in. "I did so through a third party," Father Albert said "I am yet to get a response."
- O.A.
