PCA seeks to intervene in 2009 police killing inquest

THE POLICE Complaints Authority (PCA) is seeking to appear amicus curiae in the coroner’s inquest convened to look into the fatal police shootings of three friends in Morvant in 2009.

At a virtual hearing before coroner Rehanna Ali on Thursday, the PCA's legal representative Trevor Clarke sought leave of the court. He also told the coroner the PCA has applied for a copy of the file so that it can make a decision on seeking intervenor status at the inquest.

Time was given to facilitate the request and the matter has been adjourned to September 23.

An amicus brief is usually sought by anyone who is not a party to an actin but has a strong interest in the matter and needs to petition the court for permission to submit a brief.

An inquest was ordered after a witness, Codi Alves, came forward 11 years after the deaths, which took place on October 1, 2009.

Officers assigned to the North Eastern Divisional Task Force were involved in the 2009 shooting incident, in which Joel Romain, Akee Caballero and Kerwyn Joseph, were killed.

Alves claimed he was with the three other men when police opened fire on their car as it turned into Second Caledonia.

Alves said he pretended to be dead and was thrown into the back of a jeep with the three other men. On the way to the Port of Spain General Hospital, he said, the officers stopped near the Lady Young Lookout after they saw one of the men still breathing, and shot the injured man twice in the head.

Alves said he only revealed he was still alive in the mortuary, where doctors and nurses were around, and police tried to take him away to kill him, but medical personnel protested.

On September 23, the substitute police investigator is expected to attend. There was no indication of who that officer is.

Alves came forward after he was wrongly identified as one of the men shot by police on June 27 in Second Caledonia. In fact Joel Jacobs, Noel Diamond and Israel Clinton were killed at Juman Drive.

The June shootings were caught on several home security cameras. Footage from at least two has been leaked on social media, and appears to contradict the police account of what may have happened.

The video footage revived allegations of police misconduct which has gone unchecked or ignored in depressed communities such Beetham, Laventille, Morvant, Sea Lots, east Port of Spain and other areas. Hundreds of people took to the streets for two consecutive days after the killings, demanding justice.

Residents of Beetham claimed Ornella Greaves was killed by a bullet from a police gun during a protest there. Investigations have been launched into the killings but there has been no official update.