The Tribune

By LAMECH JOHNSON

Tribune Staff Reporter

ljohnson@tribunemedia.net

A POLICE shooting case in which a corporal is facing manslaughter charges made it to trial in the Supreme Court yesterday after seven years.

Nathaniel Charlow, 40, is accused of the March 27, 2006, shooting death of 20-year-old Deron Bethel of Pinewood Gardens.

The incident allegedly occurred when police entered the Pinewood community to investigate a report of domestic violence against a woman involving the use of a firearm.

Bethel was in his car when plain clothes officers tried to unlock it and one officer opened fire after the car reversed from its position.

Charlow, who faces up to life imprisonment if convicted, has denied the charge.

Prosecutor Gordon Soules, in his opening address to a nine-member jury, told the jury that the Crown intends to prove that the accused man caused the death of Bethel through harm and force that was not justifiable.

The Crown called Diana Bethel to the witness stand yesterday.

The witness said that on the day in question, she was home around 7.30pm when her son, Deron, came home from work.

“He met me putting my Noxema on my face,” she said, adding that she was waiting to watch wrestling.

The mother said she and her son had a conversation before he left. She then saw him across the street at his friend’s house.

Moments later, she received a knock on her door and information that led her down the road to find her son sitting lifeless in his Honda Accord.

The witness said she identified her son’s body the following day at the morgue.

In cross-examination, attorney Murrio Ducille asked the witness if she knew a man by the name of Warren Rolle.

Ms Bethel said she knew him and said Rolle was a friend of her son.

However, she denied knowing if Rolle and his girlfriend were having problems, saying only what she had heard certain information.

“Did you witness the events that took place concerning your son?” the attorney asked.

The mother of the deceased said “No.”

The trial resumes today before Senior Justice Jon Isaacs.