Rented vehicle involved in murder

A Corporate Area man who rented a vehicle that was involved in a deadly daylight shoot-out with cops in July was offered bail on Tuesday in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

Rushane Anderson was offered $400,000 bail with at least two sureties, and was ordered to surrender his travel documents and report to the police three times weekly, following a bail application by his attorney-at-law Douglas Stewart. Allegations state that on June 30 about 9:40 a.m., a blue Toyota Vitz motor car was driving along Orange Street, downtown Kingston, when four men alighted and allegedly shot and killed a man, who was later identified as Craig Johnson. The men drove off while the police gave chase, and a shoot-out ensued, which resulted in two of the vehicle's occupants being shot and killed. The vehicle crashed into a perimeter wall near the York Park Fire Station. The car was said to have been rented prior to the incident by Anderson.

"When he was questioned about renting the vehicle, he denied knowing that this was what the men were going to use the vehicle for. After he learnt that it was involved in a murder, it is alleged that Mr Anderson called the agent for the owner of the vehicle and told him that he should report the vehicle stolen to the police, which was not the case," the prosecutor outlined. Anderson is charged on an indictment with conspiracy to murder, accessory before the fact and accessory after the fact.

Stewart told Senior Parish Judge Lori-Anne Cole-Montaque that someone asked his client to rent a car, but he didn't know what it was for.

"That was his first response when the police asked him. The car was rented before and was returned without any incident so he thought it the same for this occasion. Your Honour, my client strongly asserts his innocence and looks forward to his day in court," Stewart said.

The lawyer provided an alternative address in St Elizabeth that Anderson would reside for the duration of the matter, which was verified by the police. He argued that his client was a fit and proper candidate for bail as he was not involved in the incident. Judge Cole-Montaque offered Anderson bail and the matter was adjourned until December 7 for file completion.

- T.T.