By Duggie Joseph
Caribbean Net News St Vincent Correspondent
Email: duggie@caribbeannetnews.com
KINGSTOWN, St Vincent: A 27-year-old Constable of the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force was on Friday evening charged with a double murder that occurred here on December 15, 2005.
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| ActingCommissioner of Police, Bertram Pompey (Right) with acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, Lenroy Brewster, at media conference. |
Police Constable Erikson Harris will be taken to court on Monday for the killing of Jeannie Gill and Vonley Llewellyn, whose burnt bodies were discovered in the home of Gill almost two years ago.
According to acting Commissioner of Police, Bertram Pompey, Harris was one of several persons questioned in relation with the double murder.
Harris was at the time stationed at the Calliaqua Police Station and Pompey said, "He offered a plausible explanation" for his whereabouts on the night the murders were committed.
"However, as the investigations progressed, the police were able to uncover evidence which suggest the involvement of Constable Harris," Pompey said.
Acting Commissioner Pompey said that yesterday he along with other senior offices of the Force, met with the acting Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP, Colin Williams "and a decision was taken to charge Constable Harris with murder."
Pompey did not state if forensic evidence played a crucial role in linking Harris to the murders.
It is reported that Harris had an intimate relationship with Gill.
"We will not tolerate any corrupt, dirty or rogue cops among us," Pompey said. "We will weed them out, I promise."
Pompey said he was "shocked and angry" over the discovery that it was a police officer who had committed the murders.
"Shock that he was able to masquerade in the uniform as a police officer, and angry as to the state of disrepute he has brought this organisation."
"I urge the public not to view this single incident as a hallmark of this organisation, but see it as part of the resoluteness and commitment on our part to rid the Force of all these rotten eggs. It is an example that we will not tolerate corruption." Pompey said.
"The Police Force sees itself as a model throughout the Caribbean and we are deeply shocked at what our investigations have led us to," says acting Deputy Commissioner of Police, Lenroy Brewster.
Brewster said any officer involve in any criminal act will be dealt with according to law and give the assurance his organisation will do everything to make St Vincent and the Grenadines "a safer and better place to live."
Harris will be taken to the Serious Offence Court on Monday, but he is not expected to enter a plea since the charge of murder is an indictable one.
He will not be granted bail as it is mandatory by law that persons charged with murder must remain in jail until trial.
Harris is the first police officer to face a murder charge. |
