Christopher Thomas, STAR Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

Hewitt Johnson, the main suspect in the January 9 murder of St James taxi operator Jeffery Nam, was on Wednesday granted $800,000 bail in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court. He returns to court on May 1.

Johnson, 31, a chef from Pondside, Hanover, was offered bail with three sureties.

Allegations are that on January 9, Johnson was a passenger in Nam's Toyota Corolla taxi en route from Hopewell, Hanover to Montego Bay, St James. Along the way, Johnson pulled a firearm and shot Nam in the side of the head, and Nam later succumbed to his injuries at the Cornwall Regional Hospital in Montego Bay.

In making a bail application, Johnson's attorney Anthony Williams refuted claims that his client could not be contacted after the incident, and asserted that Johnson was not aware that a gun was in Nam's car at any time.

"He (Johnson) voluntarily went to the police, gave a statement, and indicated that he has two relatives who are police personnel; the purpose of that was to indicate that he was willing to cooperate. If he was difficult to be found, why was that information not acted upon?" asked Williams. "What is of interest is that not only was my client in the vehicle, but unknown to him, one of the other passengers had a firearm, will he be likely to commit an offence if granted bail? There is no such indicator,"

Clerk of the court Natalie Malcolm said that the prosecution's case file is incomplete because of the absence of two documents. "We are still awaiting the ballistic certificate, and there is also the statement for the identification parade," Malcolm told Resident Magistrate (RM) Carolyn Tai.

"How much time is needed for the file to be completed?" asked RM Tai.

"Four to six weeks, your honour," said Malcolm.

RM Tai eventually offered Johnson bail with several conditions.

"He (Johnson) is to report at the Sandy Bay Police Station every Monday, Wednesday and Friday between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m., and he will surrender his travel documents. There is to be no contact of any sort with the civilian witnesses, and I am also imposing a curfew order between midnight and 6 a.m.," said RM Tai.