Not me, says burglary accused

AGGRAVATED BURGLARY ACCUSED Damien Omar Browne yesterday denied going anywhere near Johno’s Pizza or robbing it at gunpoint four years ago.

“I never went to no Johno’s Pizza and I never stick up no one,” he said.
Browne, who is charged with the aggravated burglary of the Dalkeith Hill, St Michael restaurant on July 19, 2006, opted to remain in the dock for an unsworn statement.
He told the court he left home on July 19, 2009, to take his son to the nursery.

“When I get there the nursery was closed, so I returned home with my son and stayed with him all day as his mother was working,” he said.
Browne continued that on July 31, that same year, lawmen came to his house and told him they wanted to speak to him in connection with a matter.
He said when he got to the station, officers took him to a room, “bag me and beat me”.

Browne added that the lawmen cuffed and kicked him before placing a “piece of paper with writing on it” before him.
They ordered him to sign. “I couldn’t take the licks any more  so I did what they want me to do,”  he said.
The accused continued that his mother subsequently sent an attorney to the station to speak to  him and he told the attorney that the police had beaten him.
Lawmen later took him to a doctor, who prescribed medication which Browne said he never got.

He further said he also complained about the police beatings when he was admitted to the prison.
Also testifying was Dr Andrew Murray, who said he examined Browne on August 1, 2006, and found mild tenderness behind the right ear of the scalp.
There was also an area of mild tenderness to the right anterior chest  wall and to the lower back.
Murray said he diagnosed multiple mild, minor soft tissue injuries which he said were most likely caused by a blunt object inflicted with mild  to moderate force.
The doctor further said Browne had complained that he sustained the injuries while he was beaten on the same day of the examination and the day prior.
When cross-examined by Principal Crown Counsel Wanda Blair, the doctor admitted that his diagnosis of soft tissue injury was based on Browne’s complaint.
Murray conceded it was possible Browne could have complained about injuries when he was in fact not feeling any pain.
The doctor, however, said bruises might not necessarily be evident on Browne even though he had a lighter complexion.

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