SORT head questioned for four hours

AFTER spending a night at the Pinto Police Station, head of the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) Insp Mark Hernandez was interviewed for four hours on Thursday.

Newsday was informed that the team of officers from the Homicide Bureau and Professional Standards Bureau began their interview shortly after 2 pm and ended just after 6 pm. Hernandez submitted himself to be interviewed on Wednesday after his colleagues visited his home and made a formal request for him to do so.

After spending the day at the police station without being interviewed he was made to spend the night. Senior police sources were adamant that Hernandez, one of 12 SORT officers interviewed, was not arrested. The officers, along with ten members of the Defence Force are being interrogated in relation to the deaths of two murder suspects, Andrew Morris and Joel Balcon.

An undetermined number of officers assigned to the Anti-Kidnapping Unit have also been questioned in relation to their deaths. The men were held by SORT hours apart on January 30 in connection with the kidnapping of court clerk Andrea Bharatt. Two days after the arrest, Morris died, and Balcon died eight days later.

Autopsies concluded that they both died from blunt force trauma. Their relatives claimed they were beaten to death by police. Bharatt's body was found down a precipice off Aripo Road on February 4 after she went missing on January 29. Negus George has been charged with her murder.