KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Assistant Commissioner of Police Michael Charles has been tasked with finding out how an accused murderer managed to escape from her Majesty’s Prison and the death of another accused murder while in custody here.
Godwin Moses, a 27-year-old labourer of Rillan Hill, has been on the run since he escaped from prison on Nov. 21 when 37 prison wardens were on duty, according to media report while Alberto Danzell died at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Nov. 25 after falling ill.
Moses and Tameka Sutherland, 19, are jointly charged with the murder of Steveon Springer of Layou.
Springer was shot in the head and hip near Karib Cable on Murray Road while holding his one-year-old daughter in his arms.
Commissioner of Police Keith Miller recently said the public was giving bogus information about the escaped man, who, police say, might be armed and dangerous.
Minister of National Security and Prime Minister, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves said on Tuesday that he has received a report from prison officials.
He, however, said that while he was satisfied with the report, he felt that there ought to be further investigations and requested that Charles be assigned to the case.
Gonsalves 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”.
Charles is also investigating the death of accused murderer Alberto Danzell who died at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Nov. 25.
The South Rivers resident first visited the doctor on Nov. 18 after taking ill and again on the day he died.
He was charged with the murder of Ian Williams who died of chop wounds inflicted during an altercation on Aug. 28 last year.
“You know, when a young man dies in custody, you will have a coroner’s inquest which would take place because that legal investigation will come. But I wanted to get an immediate and more detailed overview as to what transpired,” Gonsalves said of his constituent.
Meanwhile, the National Broadcasting Corporation reported yesterday that police here conducting investigation regarding LIAT pilot Keith Allen who last week told Allen on Friday told a Barbados magistrate that he is guilty of trying to smuggle BD$130 000 worth of marijuana in eight packets through Grantley Adams International Airport on Nov. 23.
Allen, who departed from the E.T. Joshua Airport, will on Dec. 19 know what penalty the court will hand down on him for importation of the 65 pounds of marijuana.
IN PICTURES: Coast Guard releases photos of ‘Russian Spacecraft’ wreckage
KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – The local Coast Guard has released these photos of parts of the wreckage found on Petit Tabac, the Tobago Cays on Tuesday.
A 12-member tour group found the wreckage, believed to be from some type of aircraft, at the Tobago Cays Marine Park in the Southern Grenadines Tuesday morning.
“We’ve got an Air France pilot on-board with us. The first thing he pointed out was ‘Look! A fuselage from one of the Airbuses.’ And I actually thought it was the same thing too but when we got onshore and we inspected the thing closer, it [appears to be] a Russian spacecraft …” a member of the group told Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr. Ralph Gonsalves in a call to a radio programme.
“… we cannot say whether it is a rocket or not … We tried to turn it over on the underside — about 12 of us — and we cannot get the thing to turn. It says here ‘space solutions’ and the writing here is Russian,” the caller told Gonsalves, who is also Minister of Air Transport.
A marine park ranger, who the tour group contacted after the discovery, identified himself as Ian and told Gonsalves that the object does have Russian writings.
“I have verified that but to say where exactly it came from or what wreckage it came off of I can’t say that because I am not an expert in that field,” he, however, said, in the same call to the radio programme.
The discovery came even as the European Space Agency said on Friday that it had abandoned efforts to contact a Russian space probe, increasing the likelihood that it will plunge to Earth, according to international media reports.
The unnamed Phobos-Ground probe was to head to Mars for a 2½-year mission to take soil samples then fly back to earth. But it became stuck in Earth orbit after its Nov. 9 launch and attempts to send commands that would propel it towards the Mars moon have been unsuccessful.
Russian deputy space chief Vitaly Davydc said last month that if the spacecraft is not sent to Mars, it could fall to Earth something between late December and late February.
National security officials here are investigating the discovery but had not made any official statements as of Tuesday night.