Why has no one been questioned by police, more than a year after prisoners broke out of the Port-of-Spain, effectively shutting down the city and leading to chaos and the death?
How can the murder of Police Constable Sherman Maynard receive the justice it warrants if investigations are at a standstill?
These are questions that arise following a release by thePrison Officers Association (POA)16 months after the Port-of-Spain prison break.
On Monday, POA PresidentCeron Richards said the Association hadbeen reliably informed, that to date none of the officers suspended and charged have been questioned by the Police Investigator assigned to the case.
He said this was very troubling since it appearedthat a case of this nature which involved the loss of life of a Police Officer was of little priority to the Police Service.
On July 24, 2015 Allan 'Scanny' Martin, Hassan Atwell and Christopher 'Monster' Selby, armed with guns and a grenade, bolted from the prison.
Prisons officer Leon Rouse was shot and PC Sherman Maynard, who was stationed outside, was killed.
Caption: From left, Allan 'Scanny' Martin, Hassan Atwell and Christopher Selby, the three men who escaped from the Port-of-Spain prion on July 24, 2015. Atwell and Martin were killed. Selby surrendered to police.
Martin was killed moments after the escape after he was cornered at a guard booth of the Port-of-Spain General Hospital and Hassan Atwell was murdered in East Port-of-Spain one day later.
Selby, 30, surrendered to officers at the Barataria Police Station 48 hours after his escape. He was subsequently charged with ten offences including the murder of Maynard.
Following the brazen escape two prison officers weresuspended and charged with "neglect of duty," however according the the prisons officers association, neither has been questioned by police.
He said the association was also calling upon the Commissioner of Police to provide the public with a detailed update on the status of the investigation into this incident and the murder of PC Maynard which traumatised the entire country and tarnished the image of the Prison Service.
Caption: PC Maynard, who died in the line of duty on July 24, 2015 during a prison break in the capital city.
The association also calledon the Minister of National Security the Honourable Major General (Retired) Edmund Dillon to "advocate for this matter to be thoroughly investigated so that the truth may be unearthed, the culpable persons be held accountable within the parameters of the law and lessons learnt can inform policy adjustments which will make our nation's prisons safer, secure and more strategic as the security architecture is being built stronger."
Richards alsocalled on Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley, as the Head of the National Security Council to place this matter on high priority at the next National Security Council meeting.