A former colleague of six police officers accused of murdering three friends in a car in Moruga in 2011 has claimed that they were all hard-working, dedicated, and of impeccable character.
Police photographer Videsh Ramsarran made the claim yesterday while testifying in the group’s trial before High Court Judge Carla Brown-Antoine and a 12-member jury and five alternates at the Hall of Justice in Port-of-Spain.
Ramsarran, who was formerly assigned to the San Fernando Police Station together with the officers, who were members of the San Fernando Robbery Squad, made the statements while being cross-examined by the group’s lawyer Israel Khan, SC.
“As far as I know he was of impeccable character,” Ramsarran said, as he was quizzed on his knowledge of the individual officers.
However, when asked if he knew that they had repeatedly “put their lives on the line while on duty” before being implicated in the triple murder, Ramsarran said, “It is all police officers’ general duty.”
During his testimony, Ramsarran stated that in late July 2011, he was asked to take photographs of two police vehicles that were driven by his former colleagues.
The photographs were tendered into evidence and shown to the jury while Ramsarran pointed out the apparent bullet holes in the vehicles which he was instructed to photograph.
Ramsarran was followed by another police photographer Inspector Vorster Yearwood, who was tasked with the responsibility of taking photographs of another vehicle related to the case.
Sgt Khemraj Sahadeo and PCs Renaldo Reviero, Glenn Singh, Roger Nicholas, Safraz Juman, Antonio Ramadin are accused of murdering Alana Duncan, Kerron Eccles, and Abigail Johnson on July 22, 2011.
Duncan, 27, of Duncan Village, San Fernando, Eccles, 29, and 20-year-old Johnson, both of St Mary’s Village, Moruga, were driving in Duncan’s vehicle when it was stopped by the officers at the corner of Rochard Douglas Road and Gunness Trace in Barrackpore.
Initial reports claimed that the friends shot at the officers, who returned fire in self-defence.
In his opening address at the start of the trial on Tuesday, lead prosecutor Gilbert Peterson, SC, claimed that the State is contending that the officers were in fact targeting Duncan’s boyfriend Shumba James.
He said that he and state prosecutors would lead evidence that hours before the trio was shot, PC Singh was contacted by two senior officers of the Southern Division, who indicated that they were in the process of building a case against James, who at the time was wanted for questioning in relation to three murders.
“He (James) was no altar or choir boy. He is no saint. He was clearly known to the legal system,” Peterson said.
He claimed that James would testify that he borrowed a Nissan B15 from his brother and took Duncan to the St Mary’s Police Post where he had to report three times weekly as part of his bail conditions in relation to a pending case he had before the court.
Peterson stated that after completing the process, James and Duncan visited several nearby ars where they met with Duncan and Eccles.
He claimed that when they were leaving one of the bars to purchase a meal in Barrackpore, James left in a car with two childhood friends, while Johnson, Duncan, and Eccles followed in his brother’s car.
Peterson said that while driving through Barrackpore, James and his friends claimed that they saw a group of armed police officers who were parked in an auto parts business open fire on his brother’s vehicle as they drove by.
The group is represented by Israel Khan, SC, Ulric Skerritt, and Arissa Maharaj, while Giselle Ferguson-Heller is appearing alongside Peterson for the State.
The trial is scheduled to resume this morning.
