Divide at top

Article by Carlos Atwell

There appears to be no clear protocol on alerting victims of crimes or their loved ones that the person linked to their crime has been freed by the courts.

Police and court officials are at odds over who has the task, with Registrar of the Supreme Court Barbara Cooke-Alleyne QC saying it is the police’s responsibility, and Commissioner of Police Tyrone Griffith disagreeing.

The issue came to the fore after the recent freeing of a man who was originally convicted of killing Sakina Walrond and her two children, Shaqkem Gittens, three, and two-month-old Sha-Mya Mapp.

Junior Mapp, then boyfriend of Sakina and father of Sha-Mya who died in the March 31, 2005 blaze at Pasture Road, Haggatt Hall, St Michael, was jolted when he saw in the newspaper that Omar Holder, 36, had been cleared by the Court of Appeal and was therefore walking around for hours without him or other loved ones knowing. (CA)

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