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From left: Senator Ashelle Morgan, Cornelius John, and Assistant Director of Public Prosecution, Karim Nelson. (File photos)
From left: Senator Ashelle Morgan, Cornelius John, and Assistant Director of Public Prosecution, Karim Nelson. (File photos)
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Police have asked the Diamond Estate man who was shot at his home on April 13 as well as two of the people allegedly present at the time to give caution statements.

A caution statement is supposed to alert the maker of the statement to the potential use that may be made of the statement in subsequent criminal proceedings.

It suggests that the police could be considering bringing a charge against the person given the statement.

Commissioner of Police Colin John told iWitness News, on Tuesday, that police are nearing the completion of the investigation surrounding the shooting of Cornelius John at his home.

Mr. John said that he was shot by one of two men, who, along with Senator Ashelle Morgan, came to his home uninvited on April 13.

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He has also alleged that the senator, who is also a lawyer and deputy speaker of the House of Assembly, pointed a gun at him and threatened to shoot him.

“Well, I know the persons appeared with their lawyers, they were cautioned,” the police chief told iWitness News Tuesday evening, when asked about the investigation.

“I have not seen the file back as yet. We are nearing the completion of that investigation,” Commissioner John said.

Asked who were the persons from whom the police requested caution statements, the police chief said, “Mr. John and other persons of interest.”

Asked if Nelson and Morgan gave caution statements, Commissioner John said police approached them but he did not know if they gave caution statements.

Last week, the police chief said that the director of public prosecution had sent the file back to police for clarification of some matters. 

On Monday, Kay Bacchus-Baptiste, the shooting victim’s lawyer, told iWitness News that she had taken her client in for a caution statement, as requested by police.

She, however, said that Mr. John ended up not giving any statement because the “concoction they put to him was so outlandish and obviously a concoction; there was no need to respond”.

Also on Monday, Bacchus-Baptiste told iWitness News that police told her that Senator Morgan does not have a firearm permit and never applied for one.

She said that on Sunday, the police had asked that Mr. John give a caution statement because Nelson and Morgan had made a complaint against him.

However, on Monday, Mr. John was told that his wife, as well as Morgan had made complaints, Bacchus-Baptiste said.

She said that the police told her client that his wife had reported to them that he had threatened her on the day of the shooting.

However, Mr. John’s wife, Nicole, has told iWitness News that she and her husband had no altercation on the day of the shooting.

Bacchus-Baptiste said that the police showed her and her client a typewritten statement they said Morgan gave on April 14 about the shooting incident.

The lawyers asked why police were only then referring her client to that statement.

On Sunday, Bacchus-Baptiste and police went to John’s home, where investigators took measurements of where the various parties were during the shooting incident.

There has been much public discussion about the shooting and the time it is taking to complete the investigation.

Some commenters have suggested that it is because of the persons involved, adding that were less-connected people implicated, they would have been arrested and charged a long time ago.

Police have not made any arrest in connection with the shooting and no one has been charged.

Nelson has proceeded, voluntarily, on leave, pending the outcome of the investigation. 

Morgan, however, has remained in her post and has defied calls by the public and the parliamentary opposition, in the national assembly, for her to demit her post temporarily. 

iWitness News has been unsuccessful in repeated attempts over the past weeks to reach Nelson and Morgan for comment.

16 replies on “Nelson, Morgan, John asked to give caution statements”

  1. So if a husband threatened a wife and she reports it, who should be showing up at the husbands gate, the DPP AND THE DEPUTY SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE WITH A THIRD PARTY OR THE POLICE? SVG YO SWEET.

  2. Pity only the name of Mr C John is being mentioned.Well, I know the persons appeared with their lawyers says the CHIEF.They have no name and the reason why the said matter is moving forward although at a snails pace it is because his back is moving slowly towards the wall but no matter what he does at this point and time the legal community here in SVG and those living abroad are looking at him as an alleged laughing stalk it seems he lost all credibility.All those years of hard work IT TOOK TEN YEARS TO BUILD DARBY’S CASTLE but it TOOK JUST ONE NIGHT TO BRING IT DOWN.He had sworn to uphold the law and to serve and protect the people of this country not a chosen few. Allegedly he serves his MASTER well.The wheels of justice will turn one way or another, there will always be a day of reckoning.

  3. Nathan Jolly Green says:

    Its all a matter of play acting by these people. They should have all been locked up and their firearms taken until after a criminal court case.

    This is what is called dynastical tyranny at it worst. The alleged perpetrator’s will never be punished because they will never face a court.

    We must blame ULP politics also, because if these were NDP people their feet would never of touched the floor. They would have been whisked to the police station and beaten half to death until they admitted their guilt.

  4. The longer this case takes to finish the more people gets aggravated,,they fishing for an excuse to justify their unprofessional and sickening actions.

  5. O dead O dear we ??? They cant really be that bad seriously cant expect people to believe that people in power are corrupt Nahhhhh not in SVG surely not ??? Never ??? are well im poor people so straight away they dun lock me up and case dun reach ah courts but alas we are not dealing wid poor people are we??? As with most of the high profile cases 90% of Vincentians already know justice wont be served and 10% will laugh at us yet again as they walk Scott free… O and the last 10% just keep quiet…… DONT WANT TO UPSET Massserrrrrrr

  6. Time the govt step up and govern d country with class and let justice prevail .Had this been his son or daughter shot by the senator ,she would have been fired and imprisoned .Do so nah like so .SVG needs to get with the program and abolish the outdated backward judiciary system,and the way they do their so call police investigations . Looking forward to the movie . SVG is a laughing stock now to the world shame on them ,so embarrassing to hear and read these kind of things

  7. SVG need to get rid of their outdated system and the way they conduct their so call police investigations .They have become a laughing stock to the world ,shame on them in regards to
    denieying justice to the many wrongs committed to innocent civilians
    Looking forward to the movie

  8. Concerned Citizen says:

    Jim, what a great comment! I have to use that sometime…if you don’t mind.

    The article is well-written. It gives a real sense what evidence has been thus-far presented. We all heard Kenton’s interview that the wife said that there was no dispute between her and her husband the day of the incident. Some powerful people are going to incredible lengths to do what lawyers usually do in SVG:
    Make the innocent look guilty and the guilty look innocent. It will certainly not work this time in the court of public opinion…as the article hints. THE WAY THE POLITICAL PEOPLE ARE GOING ABOUT THIS WILL CAUSE THEM TO LOSE FAR MORE SUPPORT THAN OTHERWISE, nevertheless…
    We may just get an unpleasant surprise when the court decides. Disneyland may not be as fun as we believe when the untouchables show up. They may even win the case ( by questionable means) but lose the people!

  9. Allan H. Palmer says:

    A comedy of Errors! Ha ha ha! An illiterate play writer could not have written a more confusing script.

    Is this really happening? Or it is a situation where some confused person trying t i tell he knows nothing of. A comedy of Errors or a country of (not comedian) comedies?

  10. So it seems as though Mr John, the victim of abuse, an innocent man, who got shot in the leg, will be charged, while the unidentified third person, and Ashelle Morgan will be free of charge? Haha Haha Haha. Poorsah, bring back yuh tune. It fits this time: “Angela gel whey do you; we gah monkey too!” Real “Monkey Motion” going on in this so-called “Home of the Blessed!” “Whey Do Dem!?” What a country!

  11. Here it is in a Nutshell !! The fact is that the civilian Cornelius John got shot by someone’s gun and, some sort of reasonable action has to be taken via a LAW of the SVG land. Therefore, the investigation has to identify the perpetrator and; if the pin gets stuck on Assistant DPP Karim Nelson “because allegedly he’s the one that shot Mr John”, then so be it, and if the investigation alleged that Mr Cornelius John might be charged as well, then ‘justice should prevail under the Court of LAW’.
    As Lawyer Bacchus so clearly said “ in ‘LAW’; you can’t excuse Senator Morgan for what she did and charge Nelson; it is a joint enterprise, a common purpose, they went there together.”
    What is so apparent, in following the foregoing within SVG, is that the island is possessed of specialists of all categories, but of very low values; stemmed through party-political rivalries, where fresh appointees are placed through nepotism and very little opportunity to job tail amongst those who lead with proper moral principles. Then you wander why even those of Inter Faith Leadership have so little voice in being impartial examples of the land.
    The ultimate is that this all goes right back to the weakening of our PM Ralph Gonsalves, a man who’s Education Revolution Dream has today; revolved sadness due to the disappointment of a high percentage of these deemed intellectuals

  12. If he had a gun, knife or cutlass that was for protection. You have Lone Rangers with faces covered entering your home, that alone is reason to arm yourself.
    Why is it taking so long for this case to come before a judge? Are they waiting for Ralph to come back and declare “case closed”?
    This man is not lying, because he only said he recognized one person and he gave reason for that. Did the police search the home of the senator for guns? Was the delay created for her to get rid of her gum? Just like the Lewis case they should “ransack” the senator’s house.
    I hope the judge would deal with these people, irrespective of their links to the judiciary. This action needs jail time for all concerned. How come the shooter is not named and investigated? Is he a police man or a politician?

  13. Nathan Jolly Green says:

    If this can be classed as a crime against humanity, which the aspects are rapidly becoming, it could be referred to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

    The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is the officer of the International Criminal Court whose duties include the investigation and prosecution of the crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, namely genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes as well as the crime of aggression.

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