A police officer could be facing as much as 7 years in jail after he was found guilty of unlawful wounding in the high court on Friday.
Police Constable Delroy Stapleton, who has served in the Force for 17 years, was found not guilty of wounding with intent, but found unanimously guilty of unlawful wounding for the June 2016 shooting on the Frigate Bay Strip that seriously injured national athlete Timoy Henry.
The officer went on trial Monday, defended by Attorney Chesley Hamilton.
High court judge Justice Trevor Warde QC did not admit surveillance video from a bar on Strip from the night of the shooting nor a report from the investigating officer.
The prosecution did however introduced ballistic evidence from the gun Constable Stapleton turned in after the shooting and the shell casings recovered at the scene.
In a surprising move the Constable took the stand to give his side of the events that unfolded that evening. He said he was off duty at the time and while near a bar on the Strip he was alerted to a fight between alleged gang members where bottles were being used as missiles. He said he tried to quash an altercation between two men and while he got one under control the other walked off and threatened to come back for him.
The officer said when he made the threat the gang member put his hand under his shirt and fearing that the young man was about to shoot at him, he fired two shots low to the ground and made impact with his intended target. He said the gang member moved towards the entrance of the Strip, throwing what appeared to be a gun toward the pond side.
He said he saw a crowd gather over a young man on the ground bleeding, who was reportedly a bystander, but he did not say anything to the injured individual. A police vehicle transported that person, Timoy Henry, a young father and national athlete to the hospital.
Dr. Cameron Wilkinson Chief Surgeon and Medical Chief of Staff at the JNF Hospital testified that Henry had been struck in the neck and shoulder and his injuries had been life threatening. The young man’s arm was temporarily paralyzed and he had to undergo surgeries overseas and months of therapy to regain mobility.
While ballistics testing matched two shell casings found at the scene to Stapleton’s gun, they could not determine if the bullet that struck Henry had been fired from the same weapon.
During the judge’s summation the jury was asked to note that Stapleton admitted the gang member was walking away from the scene when he shot at him, that the officer had never seen the man with a gun, and that Stapleton said he had received a call from an anonymous male the next day who directed him to a gun he later found where he said he saw the gang member throw something. Stapleton admitted that he had not told anyone else about the call at the time and went to look for the gun alone.
They were also told to consider the ballistics evidence which could not determine if Henry had been struck by the officer or a stray bullet from another source.
It took the jury just a few short hours to bring a back a verdict that Constable Stapleton did lawfully and maliciously wound Timoy Henry. He was also found guilty of breaching Section 23 (1)(A) of the Firearms that states a person shall not discharge any firearm or ammunition on or within forty yards of any public road or any public place except in the lawful protection of his or her person or property, or in the protection of some other person in danger or in peril.
He is scheduled for sentencing in January 2020.