Bullet fragments from Moruga murder victims shown to jury at policemen's trial

BULLET fragments retrieved from the bodies of two of the three Moruga friends have been tendered into evidence at the trial of the six police officers accused of killing the three in 2011.

The bullet fragments retrieved from Abigail Johnson’s upper right back, neck, right ribcage and abdominal cavity were tendered into evidence on Thursday, during the testimony of retired ACP Raymond Craig, who charged the six policemen.

On July 22, 2011, best friends Johnson, 20, of St Mary’s Village, Moruga, Alana Duncan, 27, of Duncan Village, San Fernando, and construction worker Kerron “Fingers” Eccles, 29, also of St Mary’s Village, were gunned down by police.

Six police officers – Sgt Khemraj Sahadeo and PCs Renaldo Reviero, Glenn Singh, Roger Nicholas, Safraz Juman, and Antonio Ramadin – are accused of murdering them.

A bullet fragment taken from Eccles’s back, along with a search warrant, a station diary extract, certificates of analysis, post-mortem reports of the three, their medical reports, other bullet fragments as well as a pistol, magazine and two rounds of nine-millimetre bullets were tendered during Craig’s testimony and shown to the jury.

Craig, who was assigned at the time to the Professional Standards Bureau of the police service, also said he interviewed Marvin Figaro and Andel Richards, both of whom allegedly witnessed the killings at the corner of Rochard Douglas Road and Gunness Trace in Barrackpore.

They were in a car with Shumba James, one of the main witnesses in the case, who prosecutors are alleging was the policemen’s main target, but had switched cars after he went to the Moruga police post to report as part of his bail conditions.

James and Figaro have already testified at the trial.

On Thursday, Craig testified to what he did in the weeks and months after the incident. He accompanied police to various locations, including the scene of the shooting and an area off the M2 Ring Road in Woodland. He also obtained search warrants for video recordings from an auto-parts business in Barrackpore where the shooting took place, as well as to search the homes of the six police officers.

Also accompanying the officers to some of the locations was WPC Nicole Clement.

Craig said on August 25, 2011, he; then-Cpl Michael Veronique; police draughtsman Gregory Hood; WP Cpl Ganesh and Valerie Hospedales, both police photographers; and PC Ramnarine went to Rochard Douglas Road with four civilians to “reconstruct” the incident.

He said he had three reasons for doing so.

“I wanted to be sure what took place that night; I had the statements from Marvin Figaro and Andel Richards; and I wanted to be fair to the accused in this matter.”

On October 25, 2011, he obtained search warrants to search the homes of the accused policemen and two days later, he co-ordinated search parties while searching Reviero’s home in Enterprise, Chaguanas.

The search warrants were for firearms and clothing but nothing was found.

On October 28, 2011, Craig and other officers went to a track off the M2 Ring Road in Woodland with Clement.

The next day, he went with Veronique to the San Juan police station, where he met Juman. He said he told Juman about the murder investigation and read him his rights. Juman, he said, replied, “Sir, my attorney Israel Khan has advised me not to subject myself to any interview, and I complying. I gave a report already and I am sticking to that.”

Craig said Juman was warned he might be prosecuted for the murders and asked to return to his cell. He refused to sign a station diary entry, but said he agreed with what was written.

Craig also went to the Homicide offices in Port of Spain, where he met Sahadeo and his attorney, Subhas Panday. Sahadeo was told of the investigation and that he was a suspect. Panday said his client wanted to remain silent and did not want to be interviewed, nor did he want to sign notes of the exchange taken by Veronique. Sahadeo was also told he might be charged for the three murders.

Craig then met with Insp Harvey Jawahir at the CID office in Port of Spain, where he also met Reviero and his two attorneys, Panday and Shawn Teekasingh.

He said Panday said his client had been advised he was to be placed on an identification parade as a suspect and in those circumstances was not in a frame of mind to subject himself to an interrogation but might at a later time.

On October 31, 2011, Craig met with Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, and went to the Central Police Station, Port of Spain, where he told the six they were to be charged with the three murders.

The officers were charged and cautioned and remained silent.

Craig said he again went back to the area off the M2 Ring Road in November with Hood and a photographer and that same month to the Forensic Science Centre (FSC), St James, where he received three vehicles – a white Nissan B15 and two marked police Ford Everest SUVs.

In March 2012, he retrieved several certificates of analysis from the FSC and the bullet fragments taken from Johnson and Eccles’s bodies, as well as the other exhibits.

Craig is expected to return for cross-examination by the defence on Friday.

Presiding over the trial at the Hall of Justice, Port of Spain, is Justice Carla Brown-Antoine.

The six police officers are represented by Senior Counsel Israel Khan, Ulric Skerritt and Arissa Maharaj. The State is represented by special prosecutors Gilbert Peterson, SC, Elaine Greene and prosecutors Giselle Ferguson-Heller and Katiesha Ambrose-Persadsingh.