How did Emmanuel Joseph die?

Emmanuel Joseph's family, concerned about the circumstances of his death while he was a remanded inmate at the Eastern Correctional Rehabilitation Centre, wanted former state pathologist Dr Hughvon des Vignes to view the autopsy but found himself barred.

Crystal Charles, Mr Joseph's sister and appointed administrator of his estate requested an independent perspective from Mr des Vignes. An emergency intervention by Justice Carol Gobin overruled the director of the Forensic Science Centre and allowed the independent pathologist to view Mr Joseph's initial autopsy.

According to Dr des Vignes, there are observations to be made on an initial autopsy that are critical to assessing cause of death. Like the family, he was "concerned" by the suggestion that Mr Joseph, 22, had died of cardiac arrest after being imprisoned on suspicion of attempting to murder a prison officer and the daughter of deputy Commissioner of Prisons Sherwin Bruce.

Mr Joseph's death was classified as "unnatural" after his body was found to have suffered shock, haemorrhage, polytrauma, multiple blunt force injuries and a gunshot wound.

Acting Prisons Commissioner Deopersad Ramoutar was unaware of foul play or violence in Mr Joseph's death.

The case brought unwelcome echoes of the February 2021 case of Andrew Morris, who then police commissioner Gary Griffith stoutly denied was beaten to death by officers.

Mr Morris, Mr Griffith stated in a startling alternative account, was placed in a chair when he fell, one of three such "falls" observed by police. He was swiftly taken to hospital where he died from injuries sustained in these falls.

Both Mr Morris and Joel Balcon, arrested for the murder of 23-year-old court clerk Andrea Bharrat, died in custody. According to their autopsies, they died of blunt force trauma.

The Police Complaints Authority stated that both Mr Morris and Mr Balcon were tortured while in custody. The head of the Special Operations Response Team (Sort), Insp Mark Hernandez was charged with the offence of misbehaviour in April 2021 following a complaint by David Ottley Jr, who had been detained as a suspect in Ms Bharrat's murder. Mr Hernandez was suspended from the police service and now runs a firearms dealership. Sort was disbanded in February 2022.

The Joseph family's search for fairness raises questions about the commitment of state institutions to transparency when investigations involve the police and possible extrajudicial killings. It's troubling enough when police officers gun down suspects in the street, and it's found that their alleged assailants were shot in the back, but the death of someone in custody, essentially helpless in the prisons system, is a damning indication of possible lapses in oversight and accountability.

In detention in TT's prisons, inmates facing trial must be afforded the protection of the law commensurate with their status as innocent until proven guilty. Especially when the crimes were perpetrated against officers of the protective services.