KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – The three-week-long manhunt for escaped prisoner and accused murderer Godwin Moses has ended.
Police shot and killed the 27-year-old Rillan Hill, South Leeward man on Sunday between Happy Hill and Mt. Wynne, in the neighbouring constituency of Central Leeward.
Well-placed sources tell I-Witness News that Moses was in a mini-van going towards the Central Leeward town of Barrouallie when cops stopped the vehicle.
He escaped from the vehicle and police hunted him down, shooting him in the process.
Sources say that Moses was armed with a .38 calibre revolver with one round of ammunition in it.
According to sources, the gun is believed to have belonged to dental technician Ewart “Ells” King, who was stabbed to death by an intruder into his Pembroke, South Leeward home last week Sunday.
The sources noted that while police are yet to confirm the ownership and origins of the gun that Moses had in his possession, a .38 handgun carries five rounds of ammunition and on the night that King was killed, residents of his Pembroke community are said to have heard the sound of four gunshots.
Moses escaped from her Majesty’s Prison in Kingstown on Nov. 21, when 37 prison wardens were on duty.
Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said last week that he had asked that Assistant Commissioner of Police Michael Charles, his former personal bodyguard, be assigned to an investigate Moses’ escape and the Nov. 25 death of accused murder Alberto Danzell at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital, after falling ill.
Gonsalves said that he has received a report from prison officials, adding that while he was satisfied with the report, he felt that there ought to be further investigations.
He further noted that it is not a criminal investigation because there is no suggestion of a criminal conspiracy.
He said a distinction must be made between negligence and a criminal conspiracy, adding that the investigation would review “ of all of the facts”.
Moses and Tameka Sutherland, 19, were jointly charged with the murder of Steveon Springer of Layou.
Springer was shot in the head and hip in Kingstown while holding his one-year-old daughter in his arms.