The Court of Appeal has turned down an application from two former policemen who were convicted in May 2019 of simple larceny to take their case to the United Kingdom Privy Council.
Mark Williams and Kevin Shirley were found guilty in the St Catherine Parish Court and fined $250,000 or three months' imprisonment.
They were convicted of stealing wood valued at $39,725 from a property belonging to Tulloch Estates Ltd in St Catherine.
The two policemen and two civilians were seen beside a fallen cedar tree on the property.
The evidence was that the policemen were seen packing the wood in a police pickup truck after one of the civilians had used a chainsaw to cut up the lumber.
In their defence, the policemen said that they were on patrol duty when they went onto a property that they thought belonged to China Harbour Engineering.
They said that they saw two men with a chainsaw by a fallen tree.
The cops argued that they were in the process of taking the lumber and the men to the police station to investigate to whom the wood belonged when the managing director of the property turned up.
The policemen said that they honestly believed that they were doing their duty but were instead accused of being involved in stealing the wood.
After they were convicted, the policemen appealed but the Court of Appeal upheld the convictions.
They next filed an application seeking leave to go to the Privy Council but it was refused.
The court ruled last week that based on the foregoing issues on which the applicants had attempted to base their application, it became apparent that there was nothing in their application calling for a referral of any matter to the Privy Council for resolution or guidance.
Attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman said today that the former policemen were now in the process of going by way of special leave to have their case decided by the Privy Council.
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