Police Satisfied With Outcome Of Coudray Greaves Murder Trial

KINGSTON, Jamaica CMC – The Police High Command has described guilty verdict in the trial of the man convicted of killing Trinidadian teacher, Michelle Coudray Greaves as a testament to the gains the country can reap, if individuals refuse to be “slaves to the code of silence”.

Ivan Taylor, was convicted in the Montego Bay Home Circuit Court in western Jamaica, of the June 2012 murder of Coudray Greaves. He will be sentenced on July 23.

In a release on Thursday, the High Command had high praise for the witnesses, jurors, investigators as well as the team from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

It said the conviction is another milestone in the strides made by the Jamaica Constabulary Force in building investigative capacity through improved technological capabilities and training.

Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner to Jamaica, Dr. Iva Gloudon, has lauded the Jamaican authorities for the speed in which the case was handled.

It was a case with a lot of scientific and circumstantial evidence, but she (the assistant DPP) did a good job of putting it tighter and left the jury with no choice because it was so well done. So we are pleased, it’s sad but we are pleased,” Gloudon said.

On Thursday, a 12-member jury found Taylor guilty of murdering Coudray-Greaves, 39, the daughter of a Trinidad and Tobago government minister.

The trial lasted 17 days and featured several expert witnesses from both the medical and technological fields with the prosecution relying heavily on circumstantial evidence.

Coudray-Greaves charred remains were found in a cane field in Montego Bay, nine days after she was reported missing on June 2, 2012.

A post mortem concluded that she died as a result of blows to the head.

Taylor, 46, who had served as an on-call ‘cabbie’ for the school teacher, was arrested shortly after her burnt body was discovered.

Cell site analysis on the night Coudray-Greave went missing placed Taylor in the vicinity of the location where the body was found.

Two witnesses also testified that they saw a car resembling Taylor’s driving out of the cane field in the early hours of the morning she went missing.