The trial of six police officers charged with murdering three friends from Moruga in 2011 continued yesterday with the evidence of their colleagues who issued them with their service firearms on the day of the incident.
During a hearing at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain, the 12-member jury and five alternates before High Court Judge Carla Brown-Antoine heard evidence from three police officers - acting Cpl Akil Clarence, and PCs Utam Ramdath and Jagan Balgobin, whose responsibility it was to issue and receive service firearms from police officers assigned to the San Fernando Police Station.
Clarence and Ramdath testified in person and were cross-examined by the officers’ defence lawyers, while Balgobin’s testimony was unopposed and was tendered into evidence as a formal admission.
Sgt Khemraj Sahadeo and PCs Renaldo Reviero, Roger Nicholas, Safraz Juman, Antonio Ramadin, and Glenn Singh are accused of murdering Alana Duncan, Kerron Eccles, and Abigail Johnson in Barrackpore on July 22, 2011.
State prosecutors are contending that they were targeting Duncan’s boyfriend Shumba James, who was suspected to be in the car, while the officers are countering that they acted in self-defence as they were shot at.
Clarence testified that on the morning of the shooting, Juman requested a Galil assault rifle and a pistol. He claimed that he facilitated the request and Juman was issued the weapons with 35 rounds of 5.56 calibre and 30 rounds of 9 mm ammunition.
Clarence stated that he followed official procedure by making entries in the station’s firearm registry which included his signature, Juman’s name and signature, the serial numbers of the firearms, and the quantity of ammunition issued.
He admitted that he was not responsible for retrieving the firearm and ammunition later that evening.
While being questioned by Senior Counsel Israel Khan, Clarence stated that firearms are not assigned to individual officers and could be reassigned to another officer after being returned.
He claimed that once a firearm is discharged by an officer during his shift, it is removed from circulation until the completion of an investigation.
Clarence admitted that he knew Juman and his colleagues from the Robbery Squad and claimed they were all “dedicated and honest” officers based on his knowledge.
In his evidence, Balgobin stated that he issued a pistol with 15 rounds of ammunition to Nicholas.
Ramdath did not issue any of the officers with firearms but instead received firearms and ammunition from Singh, Reviero, and WPC Clement when they returned to the station at 1.30 am, the following day.
Clement was initially charged alongside her colleagues but has since become a witness.
Singh returned a pistol and 22 rounds of ammunition, WPC Clement a pistol and 17 rounds of ammunition, while Reviero returned with a shotgun with 13 cartridges and a pistol with 35 rounds of 9 mm ammunition.
While being cross-examined by Khan, Ramdath, who is currently assigned to the Southern Division Task Force and who underwent advanced firearm training, was quizzed over the firing capabilities of the Galil rifle.
Ramdath admitted that he knew Clement was a colleague of the group of officers but denied knowing that she was initially charged alongside them.
The officers are also represented by Ulric Skerritt and Arissa Maharaj.
Elaine Green, Giselle Ferguson-Heller, and Katiesha Ambrose-Persadsingh are appearing alongside Peterson for the State.
The trial is set to resume next Wednesday.