Case dismissed against woman charged with assaulting cop

Alisha Richards who was charged with assaulting a policeman moments after her common-law husband was shot by police at Carlton Lane, San Fernando in October last year.  PHOTO BY VASHTI SINGH
Alisha Richards who was charged with assaulting a policeman moments after her common-law husband was shot by police at Carlton Lane, San Fernando in October last year. PHOTO BY VASHTI SINGH

YVONNE WEBB

The case against a woman charged with assaulting a police officer on the day her common-law husband was shot and killed by police in San Fernando has been dismissed.

Last Tuesday, San Fernando magistrate Cherril-Ann Antoine dismissed the charges brought against Alisha Richards by police officer Donald Snaggs.

Attorney Frank Gittens, who represented Richards, said Snaggs never appeared in court to substantiate the claim that he was assaulted by Richards some 14 months ago.

“The matter was set for trial, but he never followed up to prove that his charges had any merit, “Gittens said. “There were no disclosures other than the medical requested. The prosecution kept making excuses that he was out of the jurisdiction, or on sick leave or some other kind of leave.

“The magistrate dismissed the matter for want of prosecution.“

Richards’ common-law husband Adel Gilbert, 37, was shot and killed by police on October 20 last year while reportedly working on a construction site near his Carlton Lane, San Fernando home. Police claimed there was a shoot-out with Gilbert, but witnesses said he was unarmed when he was killed.

A video which went viral showed police dragging Gilbert and throwing his body into the back of a police vehicle, while relatives screamed for them to call an ambulance. His sister is heard shouting, “He did nothing and you shoot him in his chest.”

The video also showed police picking up items off the ground at the scene and placing them in their pockets, which PCA chairman David West had initially identified as spent shells.

Richards, 28, the mother of two of Gilbert’s four children, said yesterday now that the matter has been dismissed, she is weighing her options, as she was assaulted by the police, and not the other way around.

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