A senior police officer yesterday was accused of committing several legal infractions during an interrogation of a murder suspect in the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder probe.The questioning led to an alleged confession from one of the 12 accused men charged with her murder.
The accusations were made by several defence attorneys during the continued cross-examination of prosecution witness Supt Jayson Forde, who interviewed Earl Trimmingham almost five months after the former Xtra Foods CEO was abducted from her Chaguanas home on December 19, 2006.The officer was also accused of withholding Trimmingham's epilepsy medication during his four-day stint in a holding cell at a police station.
Forde and his colleagues were also accused of fabricating the interview notes in which he (Trimmingham) allegedly confessed to digging a hole in a forested area of La Puerta, Diego Martin, which was temporarily used to bury Naipaul-Coolman's body parts."I am instructed that WPC Johnson was writing on her own accord while Trimmingham answered her only on general questions about up in La Puerta," Trimmingham's lawyer Colin Selvon stated.
He also claimed that Johnson, who took notes of the interview, continued writing although his client was continuously complaining of suffering severe fits because of his lack of access to his prescription medication."I am told that it was only after the statement was taken, Trimmingham was given his tablets," Selvon said. Forde repeatedly denied the allegations while stating that Selvon had been misinformed.
Although Forde admitted Trimmingham asked Johnson to read her notes to him before he signed it, he denied Trimmingham was not able to read the station diary extract detailing the interview, which he also signed."He passed his finger along the words on each line and I recall at the end of it he uttered the words 'That is it there'," Forde said.
Defence attorney for three of Trimmingham's co-accused raised questions about the then suspect's mental capacity to understand the implications of his alleged statement in the absence of his lawyer."Yes, that is one intelligent individual," Forde stated while pointing at Trimmingham, who was seated in the prisoner's enclosure of the Port-of-Spain Second Assizes.
Forde is the second witness to testify before presiding Judge Malcolm Holdip and the 12-member jury and five alternates since the trial resumed last month.Through the over 30 State's witnesses, who gave evidence since the trial began in late March, prosecutors are claiming that Naipaul-Coolman was held captive in a red brick house near the homes of the 12 accused before being killed and dismembered.
While photographs and video recordings of two raids of the hillside community in the months following the businesswoman's kidnapping depicted the hole which prosecutors claimed her body parts were allegedly buried, her body was never recovered by police.The trial resumes this morning.
The accused
The 12 men before the jury and Justice Malcolm Holdip are Allan "Scanny" Martin, twin brothers Shervon and Devon Peters, siblings Keida and Jamille Garcia and their older brother Anthony Dwayne Gloster, brothers Marlon and Earl Trimmingham, Ronald Armstrong, Antonio Charles, Joel Fraser and Lyndon James.A 13th man, Raphael Williams, was charged with the crime but died in prison in 2011 of complications arising from sickle cell anaemia.
legal team
Their legal team includes Ulric Skerritt, Joseph Pantor, Selwyn Mohammed, Lennox Sankersingh, Ian Brooks, Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, Richard Valere, Kwesi Bekoe, Colin Selvon, Vince Charles, Christian Chandler, Delicia Helwig and Alexia Romero.The prosecution team includes Senior Counsel Israel Khan and Gilbert Peterson who are being assisted by senior state prosecutors Joy Balkaran and Kelly Thompson.