RHONDOR DOWLAT-ROSTANT
The fifth prisoner who escaped from the Golden Grove Prison in Arouca was recaptured on Wednesday.
Guardian Media understands that Anthony Seepersad, 28, was held in Maraval by officers of the Inter-Agency Task Force at around 11.10 am along Morne Coco Road.
He was taken to the Maraval Police Station and later transferred to the Arouca Police Station. He is now facing an additional charge of escaping lawful custody,
Seepersad, along with four other inmates, escaped from the Golden Grove Prison in Arouca on Sunday night.
Kevin Jagdeo, 32, was recaptured in the Trincity area shortly after their escape. Theon Thomas, 23, was held at about 4.30 pm on Monday at a house in Mt Dor. Kurien Douglas, 25 and Shaquille Drayton, 30, were recaptured at about 7.45 pm and 8.20 pm respectively on Monday night in Dinsley and Tacarigua.
The other four recaptured prisoners appeared before an Arima magistrate on Tuesday and pleaded guilty to the charge of escaping lawful custody.
They appeared before Magistrate Brambhanan Dubay in the Arima Magistrates’ Court.
All four men were each sentenced to two years and eight months in addition to the time they are currently serving in prison.
The five prisoners escaped from the Golden Grove Prison at about 10.30 pm on Sunday, via a space they pried open through the galvanized roofing of a dormitory cell which they then climbed through.
Prison officers heard a noise from the southern side of the dormitory and upon checking, saw that the BRC wire in the ceiling had been cut and the galvanise raised.
Five of the ten inmates housed in the cell were discovered missing.
Acting Commissioner of Prisons Deopersad Ramoutar, in a release issued by the T&T Prisons Service, has thanked all the agencies involved in the eventual recapture of all the escapees.
He said, “Special mention is made to the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force, Trinidad and Tobago Police Service - Air Support Unit, Canine Unit, Inter Agency Task Force, Northern Division Task Force and Southern Division Task Force, and the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service - Emergency Response Unit and Special Operations Team.”
Ramoutar said that the commitment and enthusiasm displayed during the exercise was commendable “and the results of this uniformed and multi-agency approach have proven most effective. This approach will continue to be utilised as we seek to uphold mandates of public safety and national security.”
On Tuesday, National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds toured the prison and following his visit said immediate changes will be made to the prison infrastructure to ensure that there is not a repeat.
The minister said he will be approaching senior officials in Government with recommendations made by Ramoutar on how best to move forward.
Hinds said from his intelligence, the five inmates were low-risk prisoners who did not have a history of bad behaviour and as such, they were not expecting that sort of action from the men, who would have done fairly short sentences at the Carrera Island Prison.
He said, “I received a preliminary report which reflected the events that transpired, and I just had an opportunity to tour the facility and to see the exact location that was used in this escape and to have discussions with the engineers of the Prisons Service and the engineers of the Engineering Corps of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force and the administration of the Prisons Service. So now, I have to contemplate things that must be done to ensure that we don’t have a recurrence of this kind of situation.”