Bail for cop charged with PC Gilkes' murder

A police officer charged with the April 2022 murder of PC Clarence Gilkes has been granted $600,000 bail.

On Thursday, Justice Gillian Scotland granted bail to PC Kristian Genty, who was charged with Gilkes’s murder on August 5, 2022. Bail was approved with a surety or a cash alternative of $150,000.

Genty was also ordered to surrender his passport; report to the West End police station on Saturdays; remain at the address in Diego Martin he gave the court or notifiy the court if that changes; and have no contact with any of the witnesses in the case.

Gilkes, 44, of La Resource Road, D'Abadie, a member of the Western Division Task Force, was among 12 Task Force officers who responded to a report of men armed with rifles at Upper Rich Plain Road on April 22, 2022. He later died in hospital.

The shooting incident was first reported as an attack on the police. In that report, officers claimed the Western Division Task Force confronted a suspect, Jahlano Romney, on the steps leading to a hilly area and were shot at, in the course of which Romney killed Gilkes.

A large contingent of officers combed the hills of Diego Martin, Carenage, and other areas in search of Romney. He eluded capture by hiding in a cave and later made his way to Venezuela by boat.

It was later revealed, based on autopsy and ballistic testing, that Gilkes was killed by police gunfire.

Genty was charged with his murder. WPC Crystal Williams-Bowman, 30, of East Dry River, Port of Spain, was charged with shooting at Romney with intent to cause harm.

Williams-Bowman was released on $500,000 bail by a justice of the peace at the St Joseph police station after she was charged in August 2022.

Romney, the State's main witness in Gilkes's shooting death, was gunned down in November 2022, at Poinsettia Drive, off Coconut Drive, Morvant.

Genty was represented by Senior Counsel Israel Khan and attorneys Ulric Skerritt and Arissa Maharaj. Stacey Laloo-Chong represented the prosecution.