By PAVEL BAILEY
Tribune Staff Reporter
pbailey@tribunemedia.net
A MAN had his five-year sentence for allegedly having a banned weapon during a police chase on Palm Beach Street in 2023 overturned after he successfully argued that police only had a passing glance at the suspect.
Antwan Adderley had his convictions for possession of a prohibited weapon and possession of ammunition set aside by Justices of Appeal Milton Evans, Indra Charles and Deborah Fraser. With the convictions overturned, the court said he would be released from prison if he had no other matters pending.
Adderley was alleged to have been involved in a high-speed police chase at around 11pm on June 11, 2023.
The vehicle being pursued had its lights off, while officers said they had their take-down lights on.
The pursuit ended when the suspect crashed into a fence and escaped on foot.
The firearm was later recovered.
Adderley was convicted of the offences on February 23, 2024.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Alex Pierre, the key witness, testified that he saw the suspect for only three seconds before he escaped.
The court classified this as a fleeting glance.
The prosecution submitted that the accused was wearing a monitoring device at the time. However, they said the device was shielded and did not show the accused at the scene of the crime.
The Court of Appeal found that the defence attorney had only just seen this evidence when it was submitted before the magistrate, and was given only two minutes to review it before cross-examination.
The court called the magistrate’s decision “unfortunate”, saying it made that aspect of the evidence unreliable.
Although the prosecution initially said the appeal had little chance of success, they later conceded that the only evidence left before the court was the fleeting glance the officer had of the suspect.
The Court of Appeal ruled that the conviction was unsafe because the three-second viewing was insufficient to sustain a conviction.
Levan Johnson represented the accused, while Shaneka Carey was the prosecutor.
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