The Appeal Court has ruled that the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) does not have the power or jurisdiction to arrest, charge or prosecute any member of the police force.
The ruling was handed down Friday morning.
In a two-to-one split decision, the court ruled that INDECOM Commissioner Terrence Williams and his investigators are not empowered under section 20 of the INDECOM Act to arrest, charge or prosecute any person for any criminal offence.
The court ruled that the only role that INDECOM has is to investigate and recommend.
Overturns conviction
The Appeal Court has also quashed the conviction of Deputy Superintendent of Police Albert Diah.
He was convicted of breaching the INDECOM Act.
Superintendent Diah was convicted in 2014 of interfering in an INDECOM probe.
He was accused of preventing members of a police team involved in a fatal shooting from handing over their weapons to INDECOM investigators in Central Village, St. Catherine in 2013.
He was fined $800,000.
DSP Diah appealed his conviction on the basis that INDECOM did not have the authority to prosecute him.
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