A murder trial for six Jamaican policemen was thrown into disarray this week as defense attorney Hugh Wildman launched explosive allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, accusing prosecutor Kathy Ann Pyke of improperly coaching witnesses during ongoing proceedings.
The controversy centers on a meeting Pyke held with two witnesses in an annex room adjacent to Kingston’s Home Circuit Court approximately two weeks ago. Wildman contends Pyke violated fundamental legal principles by reviewing one witness’s statement in the presence of another witness while the trial was actively underway.
Citing established common law precedents from both Jamaica and England, Wildman argued before trial Judge Sonia Bertram Linton that such coordination between witnesses constitutes unlawful coaching. He specifically moved to have the most recent witness’s testimony completely dismissed as “tainted” evidence.
“Two or more witnesses may never be interviewed together. The statement of one witness should not be shown to another. That is exactly what happened here,” Wildman asserted in court, capturing the full attention of the seven-member jury.
The cross-examination revealed that during the meeting, the witness reviewed her entire statement with Pyke while another witness remained present. The witness testified she asked Pyke how to proceed if she couldn’t remember details during testimony, to which Pyke allegedly advised she could request to review her statement.
Pyke vigorously defended her actions, jumping to her feet multiple times to object to Wildman’s characterization. “There is no evidence that the witness said that she was being told how to answer the questions,” Pyke insisted, maintaining she merely prepared the witness for likely questions given the 13-year gap since the incident.
The legal confrontation turned increasingly acrimonious as Wildman suggested Pyke could face disciplinary action from Jamaica’s General Legal Council for the allegedly improper meeting. He systematically dismantled Pyke’s legal citations, particularly distinguishing a Cayman Islands case she referenced as inapplicable to the current situation.
“The prosecutor is caught in the act. In flagrante delicto, which is Latin,” Wildman declared, emphasizing that none of Pyke’s cited cases involved a prosecutor conducting such a conference during trial proceedings.
The six defendants—Sergeant Simroy Mott, Corporal Donovan Fullerton, and Constables Andrew Smith, Sheldon Richards, Orandy Rose and Richard Lynch—face charges related to the January 12, 2013 shooting deaths of Matthew Lee, Mark Allen and Ucliffe Dyer. Corporal Fullerton faces additional charges for allegedly providing false statements to the Independent Commission of Investigations.
The trial continues Tuesday with the witness testimony’s admissibility hanging in the balance amid these serious allegations of procedural misconduct.