The Tribune

By KORTNEY RODGERS

A MAN arrested after a high-speed chase with police was arraigned with a juvenile male in Magistrate’s Court yesterday in connection with the killing of 21-year-old Dakeil Curry.

Lynden Prosper, 27, and the 16-year-old stood before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt following a heated exchange between families of the victim and the accused outside the court.

Neither was required to enter a plea to the murder charge, which does not attract the death penalty, at this time.

When it appeared the accused juvenile was chewing candy, later revealed to be a cough drop, the magistrate chastised him, reminding him that he was before the court “for the most serious offence of murder”.

She added that not only should he not be in a courtroom at his age, but he should “embrace his youth and be a child”. She referred to her next decision as “weighty,” and ruled that in light of the nature and seriousness of the offence, he must be remanded to Her Majesty’s Prison instead of the Simpson Penn Centre for Boys.

Both the young male and his father requested protective custody due to threats received from the victim’s family.

Last Tuesday morning, Curry had ridden his motorcycle to a home in the Johnson Road area, where he became involved in an argument with a resident shortly before he was shot in the back of his head as he was leaving.

Prosper, who was previously on bail and being electronically monitored, had nothing to say after being arraigned.

The accused are set to reappear in Magistrate’s Court on November 18, when the case is expected to be fast-tracked to the Supreme Court.