Marva McDonald-Bishop (left) and Tamika Harris

THE TRIAL of 29-year-old Kirk Salmon of Port Royal took an unusual turn last week when Supreme Court Judge Marva McDonald-Bishop stopped the case because of unfairness in the police investigations.

The judge directed the jury to return a formal verdict of not guilty, freeing Salmon of the burglary and larceny charges.

After the Crown closed its case, which was riddled with discrepancies and breaches of the Fingerprint Act, the judge said she had to look at the whole fairness of the case.

startling revelations

The startling revelations were made under cross-examination by defence lawyer Tamika Harris that the police had breached the Fingerprint Act because Salmon's fingerprints were taken without his written consent while he was at the Elletson Road Police Station. Salmon was not represented by a lawyer or a justice of the peace when his fingerprints were taken.

It was also disclosed in the Home Circuit Court that the fingerprints which were taken at the Elletson Road Police Station were not served on defence counsel until June 2, the second day of the trial, although they were taken on March 5, 2006.

The court was told that they were mislaid and were not found until June 2, 2009.

Defence counsel had no opportunity to get the opinion of a fingerprint analyst to compare those taken from the crime scene with the ones taken by the police at the police station.

The prints were lifted from the crime scene on December 21, 2006, and were not handed over to the trained fingerprint analyst for comparison until January 5, 2007. A written statement in respect to the collection of the prints from the crime scene was not prepared until eight months after its collection, in August 2007.

The policeman who took the lifts from the crime scene said that on the day he collected them, he spoke with the female complainant who took him to the rear of the premises where the fingerprints were taken.

However, the female complainant said in evidence that she did not speak with any of the policemen on the day the fingerprints were collected and she did not take any policeman to the rear of the premises. She said she stayed in a bedroom in the house with the sick elderly man whom she was taking care of.

conflicting testimonies

The policeman said the male complainant stayed in the living room, but the male complainant said otherwise. The male complainant testified that he was the one who escorted the officers to the rear of the premises and showed them the window blades.

The cop testified that the window blades were on the ground but the complainants said the blades were in place in the window and they did not see when the police dusted the window blades for fingerprints.

The allegations were that on December 20, 2006, Salmon made a forced entry into a house in Port Royal and took out a case of Tropical Rhythm and a component set.

Salmon denied the allegations when he was questioned by the police.