Three policemen charged in connection with the death of Carlton Grant, son of dancehall artiste Spragga Benz, were granted bail in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court yesterday.

Audley Lawrence and André Hare, both charged with murder, were granted $300,000 bail. Sergeant Michael Blackwood is charged with assault occasioning grievous bodily harm and was granted $10,000 bail.

Valerie Neita-Robertson, one of the defence lawyers, argued that the case against Blackwood should be dropped as there was no evidence. She said the witness said he did not see the face of the policeman who boxed him but only gave the cop's name as Blackwood. She said there are three police personnel with that name at the station. In addition, she said the witness said the policeman was fat, however, the man before the court was of slim build.

No medical certificate

The crown indicated that it had no medical certificate from the complainant and it would be unlikely that it would be getting one. Also, it was admitted that there were three police personnel named Blackwood at the station.

Senior Resident Magistrate Glen Brown advised the clerk of court to seek guidance to determine what type of assault Blackwood should be charged with, as the present charge was not in keeping with the accusations.

It is alleged that on August 23, Grant and another man were riding a bicycle downtown, Kingston, when they were stopped by police. Grant, 17, allegedly pulled a gun and fired shots and the police returned the fire. He was shot dead.

The defence is, however, offeriing a slightly different version.

They claim that after the boys were searched and a gun found in a sack they had, they were told to run and shots were fired at them, hitting and killing Grant. The crown indicated that the policemen claimed there had been a number of robberies downtown and were sent by police control; however, they could not find any such report from control.

However, Carolyn Reid-Cameron, another defence lawyer, said she did not know the crown was having problems locating the report and there were means of retrieving the transcript.

The crown indicated that investigations into the matter were still taking place and that the post- mortem report was still outstanding. A mention date of December 11 was set.