A well-orchestrated hit, hatched from within the walls of the prison, is believed to have led to the execution-styled killing of prisons officer Ian Seegobin, on Saturday night. This is the theory Northern Division police are working on, after gunmen opened fire on Seegobin from point-blank range. The 34-year-old officer, with 14 years' service, was assigned to the Remand Yard at Golden Grove in Arouca. He lived at Kelly Village in Caroni. Seegobin, who was divorced, was ambushed and killed while on his way to visit his cousin who lived on Cemetery Street in Tacarigua. Investigators believed that Seegobin pulled into the street and had just exited his car when he was shot four times, including once in the head. His killers, police suspect, were closely monitoring his movements for sometime.
Residents, police said, gave a sketchy description of the perpetrators, adding that a Mazda 323 was the vehicle they used. As visibly-shaken relatives grappled with the brutal and brazen attack on Seegobin, they disclosed that one month ago, Seegobin confessed to death threats being made on his life. One of Seegobin's aunts, who spoke on behalf of the family and requested anonymity said his death was a reflection that society had failed. "There are some really bad killers outside, and when people who have a commitment to protect and transform have to die like this, then society has failed." She said on many occasions Seegobin's family tried to persuade him to follow a different career path.
Police said it was suspected that Seegobin might have been responsible for beating several prisoners, and this might have caused anger among the inmate population. But relatives strongly refuted these allegations, painting Seegobin as far from being a violent person. "That's the normal suspicion for somebody like a prisons officer. Even if he disciplined someone at prison, it was just discipline. He had no reason to be constantly looking over his shoulder," the relative insisted. She pointed to the frequent attacks on law enforcement officers, citing the shooting, last week, of Prisons Officer I Anthony Sinanan, of Dow Village in California, Couva.
Sinanan, who also worked in Remand Yard, was shot in both legs just after leaving work. "With all the attacks on law enforcement officers, it just seems that this is a wrong profession," the relative added. Echoing similar sentiments, Seegobin's friend Richard Sheed, a retired Scotland Yard officer, called for the senseless killings to cease. "I find this is as a result of insane banditry, and these people should be removed from society. Which was what he (Seegobin) was trying to do and ended up losing his life as a result of it. Something has to be done. I am sure the people who are at the top to this profession have tried their best, but they need to rethink, because this is just too much," Sheed said.