Cop to stand trial for manslaughter

A police constable of Flanagin Town will face a judge and jury for the shooting of a man suspected to be a thief in his neighbourhood in 2017.

In 2020, Clinton Sampson was charged with the murder of Kerwyn Meharris just before 1 am on March 25, 2017. However, when he appeared before Magistrate Adrian Darmanie in the Chaguanas Magistrates’ Court the charge was reduced to manslaughter after submissions from Sampson’s lawyer Om Lalla that the element of murder could not be borne out from the prosecution’s case.

After he was committed to stand trial on the lesser charge, Sampson was granted bail in the sum of $600,000.

It is alleged that Meharris was shot by an off-duty police officer who allegedly saw a man under his neighbour’s home attempting to steal a water pump.

The suspected thief was wielding a cutlass and the off-duty officer fired a warning shot with his licenced firearm and another when he fell backwards. The suspected thief ran a short distance before collapsing and was declared dead at the hospital.

At a hearing on Friday, Darmanie amended the charge based on the facts of the case and committed Sampson to stand trial for manslaughter at the next sitting of the assizes.