Rad­hi­ca Sookraj

The free­dom of want­ed fugi­tive Hal­im Bal­lack end­ed yes­ter­day when po­lice search teams found him sleep­ing in an aban­doned house in Pa­lo Seco, a short dis­tance from where he grew up. Bal­lack, 29, es­caped cus­tody on Oc­to­ber 8, along with Mar­lon Fras­er. Up to late yes­ter­day, a mas­sive man­hunt was on for Fras­er, who is be­lieved to be try­ing to es­cape to the South Amer­i­can main­land. Po­lice sources said at around 5.30 am, search par­ties led by Se­nior Supt Gilbert Ram­sey, Supt Franklin Sam­path, In­sp Harold Seedarie, Sgt Louis Granger, act­ing Sgt Shel­don Ablacks­ingh, Sgt Ram­s­ingh and Cpl Solomon, of the Op­er­a­tions Unit, CID and Court and Process, went to an aban­doned shack off Syne Street, Sobo Vil­lage, Pa­lo Seco.

A hag­gard-look­ing Bal­lack was found sleep­ing on the floor of the shack which was un­fur­nished and dusty. Bal­lack tried to es­cape but was quick­ly over­pow­ered by Cpl Solomon and Sgt Ablacks­ingh. He was tak­en to the Point Fortin Po­lice Sta­tion where he was in­ter­ro­gat­ed. Po­lice sources said they re­ceived in­for­ma­tion that Bal­lack and Fras­er sep­a­rat­ed short­ly af­ter they es­caped from cells at the Point Fortin Po­lice Sta­tion.

The of­fi­cers claimed pad­locks on the cell doors were faulty and Fras­er and Bal­lack man­aged to open them. "The CCTV footage shows they just opened the locks and es­caped...No of­fi­cer was with them," an of­fi­cer said. "The locks were not good...They played with the locks and man­aged to get them open. "No­body helped them to es­cape." Bal­lack and Fras­er are charged with the mur­der of Wayne Car­ring­ton, 52, of Reser­voir Hill, who was shot dead out­side his home on Sep­tem­ber 25.