The State’s case against six police officers charged with the murder of three civilians from Moruga in July 2011 appears to be in jeopardy as its main witness has decided that she will no longer testify because of what he says are broken promises in the witness protection programme.
Speaking on WPC Nicole Clement’s behalf at a press conference at his Woodbrook office yesterday evening, attorney Gerald Ramdeen said his client took the decision based on the failure of National Security Minister Edmund Dillon to respond within 48 hours to a letter in which she raised concerns over the security measures implemented for her and her family after she opted to testify against her colleagues in exchange for immunity in the case.
Ramdeen said: “The inaction on the part of this government to this most serious and troubling issue clearly demonstrates this government’s lack of will to combat the criminal element, the lack of foresight to implement existing structures, the ignorance of the present threat to our national security by the criminal element and the general breakdown of governance that has plagued this country since the September 7, 2016.”
Ramdeen suggested that the media’s coverage of Clement’s plight would serve as a deterrent to potential witnesses to crimes who are unsure whether they should provide information to police.
“You need to have a robust justice protection programme because the types of crimes being committed now.
“Persons who want to come forward to give evidence want to ensure that they and their families are protected at all cost.
“No cost is too high to pay to protect these persons, because the cost to our country if we fail to address this problem now, is our future, and the future of our children and families.
“The cost is the breakdown of law and order,” Ramdeen added.
In addition to Clement, Ramdeen also revealed at another client, who is a witness to a murder in October last year, also threatened to leave police protective custody this week due to lack humane conditions.
He said that the witness, a university student, was initially being kept in a safe house and was then moved to a guest house in Port-of-Spain.
“On at least two occasions she saw persons who came to use the guest house she knew. Such were the loose security arrangements for this witness,” Ramdeen said. He also claimed that although the witness was a Muslim she was forced to eat food that was not halal as that was all provided by her police guards.
Clement’s main complaint highlighted in her letter sent to Dillion on Monday, is that she was promised that she and her family would relocated aboard under the programme when she agreed to give evidence against her former co-workers in the case but instead was placed under a make-shift arrangement in which she and her daughter are living in a “safe house” with minimal police protection.
She says that since signing the agreement in June 2012, she and her daughter had been kept at three different locations, including one which did not have potable water. She also has issues with the fact that police officers were in charge of her protection and feared the possibility that her location may be compromised under this arrangement.
“This is her reward for coming forward and being a State witness in this most serious criminal prosecution,” Ramdeen said.