A mentally-ill prisoner on remand has been missing for the past five months but he did not escape custody.
During his last court appearance on December 29, 2021, a San Fernando magistrate ordered that Val Kinsale be remanded at St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital for evaluation and treatment.
He had been arrested ten months earlier for possession of cocaine.
The Prison Service told Kinsale’s relatives he was dropped off at the Arouca Police Station to be taken to St Ann’s.
However, officers at Arouca told Kinsale’s sister, Beverly George, that he was released from police custody as the police had no warrant to keep him.
In an interview with Guardian Media, George said her family only realised Kinsale was missing several months after he was last seen.
“My mother would attend the virtual hearings and she told me he was showing up in court, they (Prison officers) kept saying he was not available,” George said.
She checked the hospital but was told by the registration department that Kinsale’s last admittance was in 2019.
“We checked the San Fernando (General) hospital, we checked all along the East/West corridor…we even went so far to try to go to Forensics to see if his body had been brought in….it’s so many months later and we still have no idea,” George said.
George said she also filed a missing person’s report with the police.
“The police called they said they aren’t able to do anything, they called the Prison, the prison said they released him, so we started to dig some more trying to get assistance, because where is he? This is the important thing, we need to know where he is.”
She believes Kinsale would have stayed close to where he was released from the police station as he did not know the area.
Before his arrest, he lived with his mother at Ramsaran Street in San Fernando.
Having exhausted every other option, George said her family has become desperate.
“Any help we can get in finding him or if somebody can assist in getting information on what went wrong, the case is still pending we know that but we are still reaching out to the public, the important thing is to find my brother,” she said.
Anyone with information on Kinsale’s whereabouts can contact the family at 374-7440 or 354-6894 or the nearest police station.
