Fisherman demands reward $$

More than a year after a Felicity fisherman found the body of murdered police officer Nyasha Joseph in the sea at the mouth of the Caroni river, he is yet to collect a $25,000 reward offered by Crime Stoppers International when the officer went missing.

The fisherman said he made several attempts to meet with Acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams on the matter, but in vain.

In desperation, he has hired an attorney, but is hoping Crime Stoppers stick to their word and pay the reward to him and two of his workers who found the body. The fisherman said he also contacted officers whom he met on the crime scene and asked them to intervene on his behalf. He said that on March 16 last year, he and two workers were trawling for shrimp in the Gulf of Paria off Sea Lots when they discovered Joseph’s body stuffed head-first into a crocus bag.

Joseph’s killer went to great lengths to conceal her murder and had it not been for the fisherman deciding to fish in that area, her body might never have been found. The fisherman said as he looked into the water to see if shrimp were taking his bait, he saw a human leg wearing a white slipper protruding from the bag on the seabed.

He said he immediately contacted the police, who told him to anchor his boat and wait for them. He said they arrived shortly afterwards in a Coast Guard vessel and told him all the information would be forwarded to Crime Stoppers to ensure he got the reward of $25,000. “I waited for the call from Crime Stoppers but none came, but when I called them they told me that their information was the police discovered the body and I could not make any demands for the reward.”