Off-duty prison officer gunned down

GUNNED DOWN: Prison officer Trevor Serrette who was gunned down while tending to his Valencia fruit stall on Friday afternoon.
PHOTO COURTESY PRISON SERVICE
GUNNED DOWN: Prison officer Trevor Serrette who was gunned down while tending to his Valencia fruit stall on Friday afternoon. PHOTO COURTESY PRISON SERVICE

POLICE are probing the murder of an off-duty prison officer who was gunned down while operating his fruit stall in Valencia.

A media release from the prison service reported that Trevor Serrette was tending to his stall at around 1.30 pm when he was shot dead.

In the release, Prisons Commissioner Dennis Pulchan described Serrette's murder as "cowardly and heinous" adding that an emergency meeting was called with the police.

Pulchan also called on prison officers to be alert and exercise caution.

Serrette was a prison officer for 26 years and was last assigned to the Wayne Jackson Building at the Maximum Security Prison, Arouca.

He is the 26th prison officer to be murdered over the past 30 years.

Pulchan extended condolences to Serrette's family.

Contacted for comment, president of the Prison Officers' Association (POA) Ceron Richards said while enquiries were still continuing into the circumstances behind Serrete's murder, he described the killing as a "cold-blooded hit."

He said the murder was a reminder of the dangers prison officers face on and off the job citing the repeated calls for protection of prison officers while off-duty.

"He was brutally murdered, make no mistake this was no robbery. His life was just snuffed out.

"We have been saying everything we can on this issue year in year out we have been very consistent with the things we have put forward to the state and other stakeholders we will be meeting as an executive to discuss this issue further and I will say no more until I meet with the executive."

Serrette's murder brought the murder toll to 404 as of Friday afternoon.

Comments

"Off-duty prison officer gunned down"

More in this section