Resh­ma Ra­goonath

For­mer Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty, at­tor­ney Sub­has Pan­day, has cried foul af­ter the ar­rests of six po­lice of­fi­cers for the killings of Al­lana Dun­can, Abi­gail John­son and Ker­ron Ec­cles in Ju­ly. Pan­day, who spoke with the T&T Guardian briefly af­ter vis­it­ing the of­fi­cers, all of whom were de­tained at sep­a­rate po­lice sta­tions, said the in­ves­ti­ga­tions ap­peared to be skewed. "It seems to me the in­ves­ti­ga­tors in this mat­ter are fight­ing tooth and nail to lay charges," said Pan­day, who based this claim on the man­ner of ar­rest. He said at around 4 am on Thurs­day, po­lice of­fi­cers went to the home of one of the de­tained of­fi­cers with a war­rant to search for arms and am­mu­ni­tion. Af­ter noth­ing was found, they ar­rest­ed him. He said the of­fi­cer was told he was want­ed for in­quiries and tak­en to the Wood­brook Po­lice Sta­tion.

Pan­day and at­tor­ney Shaun Teekas­ingh spent most of Thurs­day vis­it­ing the of­fi­cers who were de­tained at po­lice sta­tions in Woo­brook, Bel­mont, Barataria, San Juan and Port-of-Spain. He said he spoke to the of­fi­cers and gave them "prop­er le­gal ad­vice." Pan­day said he be­lieved in­ves­ti­ga­tors have sep­a­rat­ed the of­fi­cers in a bid to "di­vide and mash up." "We have giv­en the po­lice prop­er le­gal ad­vice," he said. "If they are charged we are prepar­ing for that...If they are not we are al­so pre­pared for that. "I do not know if it is pol­i­tics be­hind this. We are wait­ing...I am try­ing to put the po­lice of­fi­cers in a good frame of mind. "Every­one has a right to a de­fence, what­ev­er the out­come of the in­ves­ti­ga­tions."

John­son, 20, of Bur­ton Trace, Moru­ga, her best friend, Dun­can, 27, of Dun­can Vil­lage, San Fer­nan­do, and Ec­cles, 29, of Moru­ga Main Road, Moru­ga, were shot and killed around 9 pm on Ju­ly 22 at Gun­ness Trace and Poui Street, Bar­rack­pore. They were trav­el­ling in a car dri­ven by Dun­can when it was re­port­ed that po­lice of­fi­cers of the San Fer­nan­do Rob­bery Squad in­ter­cept­ed the ve­hi­cle. Po­lice re­ports al­lege that the oc­cu­pants opened fire on the of­fi­cers who re­turned fire, killing the trio. Eye­wit­ness­es lat­er de­nied the po­lice ac­count, say­ing the three friends were in­no­cent vic­tims. Their deaths sparked out­rage and fiery protests in the Moru­ga com­mu­ni­ty.