Attorney calls on police to preserve evidence in triple killing

ATTORNEY Om Lalla, who is representing the 15-year-old shot by police last Saturday, is requesting of the Office of Commissioner of Police that all evidence be preserved “with the highest security.”

In his four-page letter to acting Police Commissioner Mc Donald Jacob, and copied to director of the Police Complaints Authority David West, Lalla requested that all CCTV footage from the police, national security cameras and surrounding businesses be preserved. He also requested the same for body camera footage; ballistic reports, which include the amount of ammunition used and the officers who fired their weapons; the autopsy report from the Forensic Science Centre; evidence that the police vehicle was shot at; the station diary report, and the medical report of the victims.

Lalla said his client denied that he or anyone of the six people in the car had a gun on them or that a gun was even found in the car after the shooting.

Isaiah Roberts, 17, along with Fabien Richards, 21, and Leonardo Williams, 17, were killed after police officers said they were shot at after the car the three were in crashed into Republic Bank, Independence Square. Police said in a media release that a Smith and Wesson pistol was found in the car and seized.

Lalla’s client was one of three who survived. He was shot in the right arm and grazed on the abdomen and leg. He was hospitalised for four days before he was discharged. He and the two other survivors gave statements to police and were released without charges, pending further investigations.

The autopsy reports of the three killed said they were shot from behind.

Lalla said his client was in the car heading towards Port of Spain when a police vehicle confronted them. The teen said an officer asked the driver to stop but he failed to do so because he became frightened. The teen said he heard gunshots but the driver continued driving.

The letter said when they reached Port of Spain, the driver turned south along Chacon Street and was slammed into by another police vehicle heading west along Independence Square, causing the car to crash into Republic Bank.

“Upon crashing, the occupants of the vehicle who remained in the vehicle alive and unharmed, which included my client, heard the sounds of further gunshots and were hit by bullets. Three of the occupants of the vehicle died as a result.”

Lalla said his client is a witness, is now fearful for his life and is in urgent need of counselling. He lamented that since the incident no state official reached out to his client to facilitate this.

The teen cried at the funeral for his friend Roberts, who was buried on Friday. Richards will be buried on Monday and Williams on Tuesday.

“The shooting incident, according to the facts, represents a wholly unwarranted and blatant example of excessive force by the police which has resulted in serious injuries to my client and, regrettably, the death of other young men.”

Lalla said the matter should be investigated swiftly given the severity of the incident, adding that the anxiety by the country should not shirk the police’s responsibility.