PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Two police officers were on Friday remanded into custody after they appeared in court charged with the murder of a used car dealer following his kidnapping by officers in a marked police vehicle last month.
Acting corporal Ashraf Mohammed, 45, and constable Jason Dan Michael, 34, made a virtual court appearance before High Court Master Margaret Sookraj-Goswami, in connection with the death of Sachel “Pablo” Kungebeharry.
They were also charged with misbehaving in public office by kidnapping him for ransom.
They were advised by Sookraj-Goswami that they could not rely on alibis in their eventual trial unless they gave an indication and provided the name of witnesses to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) within 21 days or during their sufficiency hearing before her.
The prosecution said at least 40 witnesses are expected to testify in the case and in addition to the statements, the evidence will also include photographs, CCTV footage and search warrants. A status hearing is scheduled for for October 29, next year and the sufficiency hearing on November 7, next year. Neither officer was permitted to plead since the charges against them are indictable.
Kungebeharry, 32, was abducted on September 25 after his vehicle was stopped in Chaguanas in Central Trinidad by a marked police car.
Two men dressed in police tactical uniforms claimed that they had a warrant for his arrest before removing him from the vehicle and driving away. The passengers in Kungebeharry’s car were unharmed.
Kungebeharry’s relatives received a ransom request and TT$500,000 (One TT dollar=US$0.17 cents) was eventually delivered to a location identified by his alleged abductors.
However, he was not released and his body was eventually found in a shallow grave at Longdenville in Central Trinidad on October 3.
He was identified by his fingerprints and an autopsy performed at the Forensic Science Centre in St James showed that he died of chop wounds to his neck and head and a stab wound to his upper back.
Commissioner of Police, Erla Harewood-Christopher, in a statement last week, vowed to rid the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) of “errant officers” and the TTPS “regrets the alleged involvement of law enforcement officers, sworn to promote law and order, in the commission of this heinous act.
“We continue to be challenged with the presence of errant officers amongst the ranks of the TTPS. And while we are all deeply concerned with these incidents, I ask that we allow the investigations to proceed without interference and avoid any premature conclusions.
“I am very conscious that this incident goes against every principle of the TTPS and threatens to erode the public’s trust in the TTPS. As such, we are determined to address all incidents of breach of duty or misconduct by any officer with unwavering impartiality, meticulous scrutiny, and swift action.”
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