Policeman to stand trial for Beehive woman's murder
Stabroek News
November 21, 2002
A 20-year-old policeman, accused of murdering Bee-hive resident Sonia Jerrick last year, has been committed to stand trial in the High Court.
Junior McKenzie, of 173 Melanie Damishana, East Coast Demerara, was committed by Magistrate Brassington Reynolds yesterday when the preliminary inquiry concluded at the Cove and John Magistrate's Court.
Stabroek News was unable to ascertain whether McKenzie is still a member of the force. At the time of the incident on October 23 2001, he had only been with the force for one year.
He was first charged with manslaughter but that charge was subsequently withdrawn and substituted with the capital offence. The allegation was that he murdered 23-year-old Jerrick, a mother of two, on October 23, 2001.
The young woman's body was discovered by a resident near a bridge in her home village of Bee Hive, with her purse slung on her side and hands clenched. She had a gunshot wound to her nose and a bruise to her face. McKenzie and three other ranks who were all attached to the Clonbrook Station were taken into custody a day after the discovery. Jerrick had celebrated her 23rd birthday the day before the incident and was last seen drinking at an Ann's Grove bar in the company of McKenzie and two other colleagues.
The case stirred much controversy last year when the then presiding magistrate, Maxwell Edwards granted the accused $125,000 bail on November 6, one week before the start of the PI for the manslaughter charge.
Among the witnesses who testified at the start of the PI were Subordinate Officer at the Clonbrook Police Station, Woman Police Corporal Beverly Demonick; and Detective Sergeant Kwayana Bobb, stationed at the Cove and John outpost.
