The police officers accused of assaulting teenager Jemark Jackson will reappear at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court in January.

The case was adjourned to January 18, 2010, after its last sitting on Friday December 4, 2009.{{more}}

The officers Hadley Ballantyne, Casanki Quow and Osrick James were all charged on July 9, 2009 with causing actual bodily harm to 15-year-old Jemark Jackson.

Jackson alleges that on November 17, 2008, he was kicked in his belly and chest, slammed on the ground and beaten with a piece of hose, causing him to be hospitalised.

Two police officers who were receptionists at the holding area at the Criminal Investigations Department testified.

One officer in her testimony said that during her shift from 11 pm to 3 a.m., Jemark Jackson and another boy Kimron McDowall were in the holding cell. She said around 12:40 am she heard a groaning sound, which she indentified to be coming from Jackson.

Jackson told her something, to which she responded by giving him a bag. The officer said that Jackson began vomiting in the bag and was crying afterward. He was subsequently taken to the hospital by two police officers. The female officer could not recall whether or not the officers returned, but stated that Jackson did not return to the CID while she was there. She, however, noted that she did not notice any injuries on Jackson before he left the holding area.

At a previous court date, Dr. Lennox Adams who examined Jackson when he was admitted to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital concluded that he suffered from pulmonary edema, the accumulation of fluid in the lungs. An x ray showed swelling and bruising on the lungs. (OS)