Police officer in Joshua Etienne matter gets bail

courtAfter spending the weekend on remand at the Stock Farm Prison, Hayden Morgan one of the five police officers facing charges in connection with the death of Joshua Etienne of Portsmouth, was granted bail.

On Monday, High Court Judge, Errol Thomas granted Morgan bail in the sum of $150,000 with Hilliary Shillingford serving as surety.

The five officers were charged with murder last week but an Order by Judge Thomas shows that the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP), Evelina Baptiste, intends to reduce the charge to manslaughter for Morgan.

The Order reads “Whereas the Director of Public Prosecutions has indicated to the court that she intends to reduce the said charge of murder to manslaughter…It is hereby ordered that the Applicant is admitted to bail in the sum of $150,000.00 with one surety; he is to reside at Warner; is to report to the Mahaut police station every Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday between the hours of 6:00 am and 7:00 pm; surrender his travel documents to the High Court.”

“Any Breach of any of the above conditions by the Applicant shall result in a revocation of bail. Liberty to apply and this order is to be served on the Chief Magistrate, Commissioner of Police, Chief Immigration Officer and the Superintendent of Prisons.”

Morgan is represented in the matter by Zena Moore-Dyer, Dawn Yearwood-Stewart and Gina Dyer-Munro.

The prosecution is led by DPP Baptiste and Sherma Dalrymple.

The DPP has opposed bail for the four other accused officers.

Etienne was found dead in police cells in Portsmouth on July 4, 2014, one day after he was arrested for alleged ammunition possession.

An autopsy on his body revealed serious injuries including several broken bones and a punctured organ, among others.

Copyright 2012 Dominica News Online, DURAVISION INC. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.

Disclaimer: The comments posted do not necessarily reflect the views of DominicaNewsOnline.com and its parent company or any individual staff member. All comments are posted subject to approval by DominicaNewsOnline.com. We never censor based on political or ideological points of view, but we do try to maintain a sensible balance between free speech and responsible moderating.

We will delete comments that:

  • contain any material which violates or infringes the rights of any person, are defamatory or harassing or are purely ad hominem attacks
  • a reasonable person would consider abusive or profane
  • contain material which violates or encourages others to violate any applicable law
  • promote prejudice or prejudicial hatred of any kind
  • refer to people arrested or charged with a crime as though they had been found guilty
  • contain links to "chain letters", pornographic or obscene movies or graphic images
  • are off-topic and/or excessively long

See our full comment/user policy/agreement.

16 Comments

  1. COURT
    April 5, 2015

    Dominica to corrupt.
    REASONS WHY.
    1.Odell Tyson was fired for a firearm
    2.5 Police are not fired for murder

    TO hell with Dominica.

    Everyone get the hell out of this country.
    This is what our independendence represents.

  2. March 31, 2015

    where is the funds coming from for legal team ?

  3. stev
    March 31, 2015

    shame on you Brown

  4. PHQ
    March 31, 2015

    The way this case was handled by the Police from the start was very unprofessional. There was judgement before evidence collection. Under the Judges Rules , it should be the other way around.

  5. never shameful
    March 31, 2015

    Hm if it was a one lil spliff boy, I ain’t seeing bail for a while neh. Much less if it was a pound.. papamet they send me up long time..

  6. real possie
    March 31, 2015

    I swear you people want to live in a lawless state, these people have rights to until the case is called they are innocent in my book you have no idea who did what, remember the kid they had on dno and you all hanged him then it came out he was not involve so please let the case go before your piers, now with all that said please lets reinstall death by hanging before this case is called whoever is found guilty shood be hung. Their bail should be all cash and in the millions, so they can’t run but it’s the law they have a right to bail, so people stop acting like we are in the stone age.

    • real possie
      March 31, 2015

      Correction peers and not piers.

  7. young man
    March 31, 2015

    How can the news possibly state the terrible condition the man was found in and there is still audacity to grant one of these m officers bail and even reduce these officers charge I see no reason why they should not be sentence to a life in prison

    • Concerned
      March 31, 2015

      The officer in question was not actually involved in the beating of Joshua. He was charged with Manslaughter since it happened under his watch (meaning he was in charge of the station at the time of incident); hence the reason he was granted bail and charged with manslaughter. As opposed to the other four who was charged with murder and not granted bail.

      We all need to understand that regardless of the shameful way in which this case was handled from the start, the officers are actually innocent until they are take before a jury of their peers and found guilty.

      Only then can we ask for the full measure of the law to be handed to them.

  8. Just Observing
    March 31, 2015

    Some people are more privileged than the others. The police beat around the bush for eight months. Now after a two days incarceration, he can post bail. it is interesting who the “bailer” is. I suppose Matt and Carlisle will now review their partisan commentary on the matter as this matter is not a partisan one. It concerns he life of a hapless individual in the complete custody of the police and now the freedom of five police officers. Remember it was the “family attorney” who is on the record telling the public that the Dominica police behaved in a particualr way in this matter because they do not support the ruling party. Interesting to note who he said they are supporting.

  9. st joe patriot
    March 31, 2015

    Things seem going in the right direction for now,so lets wait and listen.

  10. March 30, 2015

    Sgt. Hayden Morgan has his human fault like any other human being on this planet but a murderer no!!! God will vindicate and acquit Sgt. Morgan. Not because he is the Sgt. that he should pay for the cruelty of others.

  11. The Theater
    March 30, 2015

    It is sad to hear these five officers found themselves in trouble. I know 4 of them very well and I can testify that both officer Morgan and GEMA are very good officers, and I just cannot believe their names are even mentioned in this. While I feel very sorry for the family of Joshua Etienne because an innocent man was allegedly killed by officers, who was supposed to protect him. Anyway I do hope for the best for these officers. Our officers must be more professional and stop brutalizing their fellow Dominicans uselessly. please do not allow rage and anger to force you all to do stupidness

  12. itassi4us
    March 30, 2015

    As the scriptures say, ” For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” I believe strongly that not all of the officers implicated in this matter were directly involved in what happened to Joshua Etienne. I pray that those who did their crime would be man enough to stand up. God bless Joshua’s family for showing up and accepting him after his death and may God bless the officers.

  13. BLASTING
    March 30, 2015

    Matt…..Yes!
    You there with me my brother?
    Yessss!
    Blessed to you and all humanity. Let me sympathize,and empathize with the brother ….

    • Mamzel X
      March 31, 2015

      LOL!!! You sound like you can actually HEAR the conversation in your head, boi….*died*

Post a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

:) :-D :wink: :( 8-O :lol: :-| :cry: 8) :-? :-P :-x :?: :oops: :twisted: :mrgreen: more »

 characters available