THREE YOUNG MEN charged in connection with what the prosecution said was an ongoing feud that started with a Christmas Eve shooting in Roebuck Street, Bridgetown, and allegedly ended with the death of Damien Mitchell on New Year’s Day were remanded when they appeared in the District “A” Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
Attorneys asked that two of the accused be segregated while on remand since they were suffering from gunshot wounds.
Stephen Diego Miller, 20, of 3rd Avenue, Nurse Land, Tweedside Road; Nico Akeem Rayside, 19, of Hinds Gap, Halls Road, and Lamar Alex Hewitt, 20, of 8th Avenue, New Orleans, all in St. Michael, were not required to plead to a range of charges.
The charges stemmed from a shooting at the store Brooklyn’s Finest on Roebuck Street on Christmas Eve and at a football match at Gully Hill, Carrington Village, St Michael, on New Year’s Day.
Prosecutor Station Sergeant Eustace Ifill pointed to the seriousness of the offences and that firearms were allegedly used.
He said Miller and Rayside faced a number of indictable matters, with Miller accused of murdering Mitchell and Rayside accused of possession of a firearm.
In relation to Hewitt, the prosecutor said while he was only accused of one charge, a firearm was allegedly used in the commission of that offence.
The prosecutor further told the court he feared that if Hewitt was released on bail, he would commit similar offences since “this is an ongoing feud between the accused and people from another district”.
“Our facts suggest he was in an altercation with Damien Mitchell, whom the other accused (Stephen Miller) is charged for,” he told the court.
However, attorney Romaine Marshall, who appeared for Miller and Hewitt, said Hewitt was in the store “to purchase a shirt and came out with a gunshot injury”.
“He spent Christmas Day in the hospital. What the prosecutor is trying to do is link the two matters but my client was not involved in the first one,” the attorney said.
He added that Hewitt was charged with only one offence and that was not possession of a firearm, even though the prosecution had alleged that a firearm was used.
“The fact is that the accused was shot in the abdomen and the bullet is still lodged there,” he said.
Meanwhile, Queen’s Counsel Keith Simmons, who represented Rayside, revealed he was suffering from gunshot wounds to the neck and abdomen.
He asked that the court allow Rayside to get his medication.
“He is still ill and he does not want to be in a cell with anyone.
He has lost some internal organs,” the senior attorney revealed.
Marshall also asked that his client be segregated while on remand.
Magistrate Deborah Holder told the attorneys that she could only recommend that the accused men see a doctor on their arrival at HMP Dodds. She remanded all three until February 2. (HLE)
