Phone with videos in Cjea Weekes case ‘disabled’ after handover to PM’s security

A mobile phone belonging to a woman who witnessed the police chase and subsequent crash that resulted in the death of motorcyclist Cjea Weekes, 18, in February 2022, was “disabled” after she gave it to one of Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves’ security officers to copy images of the incident, the coroner’s inquest was told.

Jomo Thomas, who represented the Weekes’ family in the inquest, expressed disappointment in the conclusion of death by misadventure when the inquest ended on Wednesday.

Thomas expressed disappointment in the way that Inspector Corlene Samuel, a police prosecutor assigned to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution, who assisted coroner Kaywana Jacobs in leading evidence at the inquest, conducted the proceedings.

Weekes died at the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital on Feb. 6, 2022, four days after suffering paralysing injuries that he told his mother were sustained when a police vehicle ran him over while pursuing him on his motorcycle in Twenty Hill, South Leeward.

Weekes, of Argyle, died two days after doctors told his mother, Natasha Weekes, that he was paralysed from the chest down and also had a broken spine and left leg.

Natasha Weekes, a domestic worker who was employed at the official Residence of the Prime Minister, at the time of the incident, died on March 5, 2025.

In the days after the incident, while her son was still in the hospital, she told iWitness News that he had told her that police had pursued him in their vehicle after he and a friend failed to comply with their instructions to stop.

Cjea Weekes and another friend, identified as “Dusty”, reportedly failed to stop because they did not have their learner’s permit on them, as required by law. However, they had a letter “L” affixed to their motorcycles as the law also demands.

Speaking on his Plain Talk show on Boom FM on Thursday, Thomas said he had a watching brief in the inquest as Cjea Weekes’ family has hired him to bring a wrongful debt claim against the state.

“… I am exceedingly disappointed in the decision. The inquest found that Cjea Weekes died by misadventure. That is to say that the state officials, the police officers who chased him to his death, had no criminal culpability whatsoever,” Thomas said.

He opined that the inquest was a trial of Cjea Weekes, rather than an attempt to arrive at the truth of what happened on the day of the incident.

Information in the public domain indicates that the police chased Weekes, who took a road in Twenty Hill, that begins as a dirt road, with a concrete section before becoming dirt again.

However, the concrete section of the road ends suddenly and neither the teen motorcyclist nor the police might have known this. Both vehicles crashed where the concrete road ended suddenly.

The impact of the crash was such that a wheel broke off the police vehicle, disabling it.

Phone handed to PM security to copy evidence  

Thomas said the evidence of two civilians, Shillingford Douglas and his niece, Andine Douglas, who drove to the scene immediately after the crash and transported Weekes to the hospital, was crucial to the inquest.

Thomas said that the Douglases live close to where the accident took place; they both saw the chase and were the first two civilians to get to the area where the police and Weekes ended up.

The lawyer said the duo each testified that there was no more than a foot between Weekes’ motorbike and the police vehicle when they saw them.

“The police claimed that they were about 30 feet away,” Thomas said, adding, “Now, who would you believe?”

Thomas said that Andine Douglas told the inquest that after the incident, she was invited to the Prime Minister’s Office, where she gave a statement to a police officer.

“She gave a statement and she indicated that she had taken pictures and video of when she got to the scene,” Thomas said.

Thomas said Andine Douglas told the inquest that she turned over the phone to a member of the prime minister’s security detail.

“They evidently took information from the phone, and when she got the phone back, the phone never worked again,” Thomas said.

“She said she checked … tech firms here in St. Vincent. None of them got the phone to work. She said she sent the phone back to her family member who lives in New York, none of the tech persons up there got the phone to work, so the phone was disabled.”

Thomas said this was important because the chief investigator, in presenting evidence to the coroner’s inquest, brought a series of still photos that were taken from Andine Douglas’ phone.

“They never presented the video to the coroner’s inquest. And neither [Samuel] … nor the coroner asked, ‘Well, where is the video that Andine Douglas said she took?’”

Thomas said Andine Douglas told the inquest that the images that she took included a picture of Weekes with what appeared to be the markings of the wheel of a vehicle across the white shirt he was wearing.

“… that was not presented; clearly somebody had something to hide,” Thomas said.

The lawyer said that had it not been for some questions from the jurors, the inquest would have been “a farce”.

“There was one time … where Andine Douglas was giving evidence, and clearly was trying to go to a point to explain the ways in which the officers dealt with her, and [Samuel] tried to lead in a different direction.

“And even though the coroner told me that I couldn’t ask any questions, I had to say, ‘Let the witness give her evidence’, because clearly she didn’t want Andine to give evidence that she knew and she witnessed,” Thomas said.

“It’s really a sad day. It’s a sad, sad day — the second killing of [18]-year-old Cjea Weekes occurred yesterday, with the verdict of death by misadventure at Calliaqua.

“… the driver of that vehicle should be in jail. At a minimum, he should have been found guilty of manslaughter. And to think that he now walks around knowing that he dangerously and recklessly drove a vehicle that resulted in the death of one of our young citizens.”

Thomas said the evidence was presented in such a way that the five-member coroner’s jury did not think that the police acted recklessly.

“I don’t think there was any intent to murder Cjea, so that was clearly off the table, but there was a question of manslaughter… to dangerously and recklessly drive. How that was not done is just beyond me.”