A Supreme Court judge on Tuesday quashed an inquest's finding of unlawful homicide in the death of a man who died in police custody in 2013. Aaron Rolle, 20, died at the Southern Police Station on February 9, 2013 from a ruptured small intestine caused by blunt force trauma to the torso, two days after he was arrested on suspicion of armed robbery and escape. Subsequent to the jury's verdict, Acting Coroner Jeanine Weech-Gomez recommended that Constable Akiel Smith and Constable Carl Smith face internal disciplinary charges.

However, in his ruling on the appeal lodged by attorney Lennox Coleby on behalf of the officers, Senior Justice Stephen Isaacs ruled that the coroner erred when she gave the jury the option of returning a verdict of unlawful homicide as it was not a finding supported by the Coroner's Act. As for the recommendation of disciplinary proceedings, Isaacs said, "The coroner may make recommendations that might reduce or eliminate a similar event as that before the court from happening, but the coroner cannot make any finding or suggestion of criminal, civil or disciplinary liability of any person."

This section of the Coroner's Act has since been changed, but the amendments are not retroactive. Senior Counsel in the Office of the Attorney General Ambrose Armbrister conceded that the coroner misdirected the jury. However, he said a new inquest should not be ordered because under the amended Coroner's Act "if the evidence adduced results in a finding of homicide, the coroner shall forthwith make out their warrant for their committal for trial before the Supreme Court". Armbrister said since inquests do not follow the rules of evidence, it would be possible for "committals to occur in situations where the evidence adduced and considered in the inquest would be inadmissible in commital proceedings and trials in the Supreme Court".

The appellants argued that Rolle died of an underlying illness and not because of anything they did. The officers admitted forcibly restraining Rolle to prevent his escape from the second floor of the station. Isaacs said, "One must take his victim as he finds him. If the actions of the appellants caused the deceased, who may have been suffering from an underlying illnesss and in a weakened state, to die it is no defense to say that he was already dying. The deceased may very well have survived his illness but for the actions of the appellants."

Isaacs substituted the following findings: The deceased was Aaron Willis Rolle; the deceased came to his death due to a perforated jejenum and mesenteric hemorrhage; the deceased came to his death on February 2013 between 5 a.m. and 7 a.m.; the deceased came to his death in cell number 3 at the Quakoo Street Police Station; the means by which the deceased came to his death was blunt force.

Isaacs made no order for costs. The officers have been on administrative leave since Rolle's death. Coleby said the court's decision makes it possible for them to return to work.

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