Professor Daisley (centre) and Attorney Nigel Hughes (right)

In the wake of damning results of autopsies that revealed that three unarmed Linden protesters were shot and killed with “bronze capped” rounds, policemen could be shortly be charged with the homicides, according to a senior police officer.

Speaking with Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) on condition of anonymity, the officer said “anyone who is involved, caught and culpable will be charged. I can assure you we are conducting a thorough and proper investigation.”

The officer said that already the probe is pointing in “certain directions”  but he declined to say whether anyone would be charged with murder and if those charges could be laid as early as Thursday.

Meanwhile Attorney-at-Law, Nigel  Hughes says he is giving the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Hack 48 hours to decide her next step.

Chief of Police Criminal Investigations, Deputy Commissioner Seelall Persaud told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com) that the metal fragments extracted from the bodies of the three dead men are being sent to ballistic experts to determine what type of ammunition was used.

Police said autopsies performed earlier Wednesday revealed that the cause of the death of Ron Somerset was given as haemorrhage and shock due to multiple gunshot injuries; Allan Lewis was given as perforation of the lungs and stomach due to gunshot injuries; and Shemroy Bouyea was given as perforation of the heart due to gunshot wound. They were part of a protest on the Mackenzie-Wismar bridge on Wednesday, July 18 against the hike in electricity rates there when police opened fire on the crowd. Initially, police had maintained that only teargas and shotgun pellets were fired at the protesters but Trinidad and Tobago Pathologist Professor Hubert Paisley says the fragments removed from the bodies appeared to have been fired from a handgun.

The autopsies were performed by Government Pathologist, Dr. Nehaul Singh in the presence of Professor Daisley.

Deputy Commissioner Persaud said the probe would also have to determine whether the police action was justifiable and if there were offences committed by the protesters in addition to obstruction. He noted that several persons have given only oral accounts to investigators and have so far refused to give written statements. “We have spoken with victims in hospital but they have refused to give written statement and what they say orally is not helpful to the police,” said Persaud.

The police probe, he said, would also determine whether Standard Operational Procedures were breached and should be revisited.

Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes would not be drawn into whether, based on the findings of the autopsies, he would be moving to file private murder charges against Senior Superintendent, Clifton Hicken who was the Divisional Commander at the time and was on the scene of the protest. Two other policemen were also said to be implicated and could face criminal charges depending on the probe and evidence.

“We are giving her 48 hours and after that 48 hours, we will provide her with some of the evidence that we have in our possession that is pertinent to the culpability of the homicide and then we will see what happens after that,” Hughes told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwaves.com).

Reacting to the police force’s decision to take the fragments removed from the three dead victims, he said the three officers who fired their weapons should be “immediately interdicted from duty.”