Young 'not aware' but PCA probe into Ornella Greaves' shooting continues

Ornella Greaves -
Ornella Greaves -

Police Complaints Authority director David West says the investigation into the fatal shooting of Beetham resident Ornella Greaves on June 30, 2020, was still ongoing. The PCA began its investigation on July 2.

Greaves, 30, was shot during a confrontation between police and protesters at Beetham Gardens. She was part of the protests that followed the police shooting of Joel Jacob, Israel Clinton and Noel Diamond in Morvant on June 27. She was later found to be pregnant.

"The PCA investigates all police-involved shootings and this particular investigation is ongoing," West told Newsday in a Whatsapp statement on Tuesday.

West was responding to a statement by National Security Minister Stuart Young in the Senate on Tuesday. Young was answering Senator Wade Mark, who had asked for an update into the investigation by the police and the PCA into Greaves’ death.

Young said the police commissioner had told him the police investigation was ongoing, and said he could not comment further on it. He went on to say, “I was a little surprised with the reference to the PCA.

"The PCA would only have come in if there’s a suspicion or there’s evidence that the police were involved. I believe at the time, initially, it was thought that from the social media videos that were circulating, but I believe thereafter, there was no evidence that the stray bullet did come from the police, and the police who were on the scene at the time, came there as a result of something else that had taken place.

"So I’m not aware of any investigation by the PCA.”

Contacted for a response to West’s statement, Young reiterated that he had said, “I was not aware if there was a PCA investigation.”

Young said a coroner's inquest was an available avenue to investigate Greaves' death, although he could not personally suggest it.

"It’s a procedure in law, it’s available in circumstances such as this. My personal belief is that it is something that is not used as frequently as it should be, and it may be appropriate in the current circumstances that a coroner’s inquest be launched to investigate this particular unfortunate incident."

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