The daughter of Curt Moses, who was killed by police on Friday night, believes there is an attempt to cover up her father’s killing by the lawmen and this was the reason his body was not taken to the Forensic Science Centre (FSC), St James, yesterday for an autopsy to be done.
Speaking with the media outside the FSC as she awaited the arrival of her father’s body to be examined, Special Moses said the funeral agency which picked up her father’s body told her they were waiting on police to escort the body to the FSC when asked what the hold-up was. She added that when she attempted to call the number of a police officer who had told her of her father’s death, the number was not in service.
“I got a call that my dad was shot and killed and I visited the Barataria Police Station and they presented me with his ID card and wallet and phone and now telling me they can’t find his body. This is very hard. I would just like to know where his body is at this point in time,” Moses said.
“But no one is telling us anything. I think it is a cover-up. That is my first assumption given all this. I am going to the Police Complaints Authority as soon as I get this sorted out,” she added.
According to police reports, around 11 pm on Friday officers of the North Eastern Division were conducting roadblock exercises when they stopped a white Nissan Tiida along Bridge Road, San Juan.
While the occupants of the car were being searched, Moses, 47, allegedly ran off. He was pursued. Police said while running he pointed a gun at them and they fired back, hitting him the second time they fired.
Moses, of Second Caledonia, Morvant, was taken to the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope, where he died while being treated. ASP Ramkelewan is continuing investigations.
Speaking about her father yesterday, Special, the first-born of his ten children, said: “My dad was a very colourful person, loved by a lot and hated by a few, but that is no motive for police to kill him. He was a tradesman and yes he was arrested in the past but for marijuana not for gun or ammunition or anything like that.”
She added that from what she was told her father surrendered to police with the other occupants of the car and did not run away as was being claimed.
Head of the division, Snr Supt Surendra Sagramsingh, in a telephone response, denied his officers were covering up anything, adding that the autopsy will find the cause of death. He added that he understood the family was distraught but said he would not allow his officers to cover up anything in the case.
In an unrelated police shooting, officers of the Inter Agency Task Force arrested a 31-year-old man on Sunday after he pointed a gun at them when they went to his home to execute a search warrant.
According to police, the man was seen at his home at Trou Macaque, Laventille, around 4.45 pm but as officers approached, the man pulled out a gun and pointed it in their direction. The officers fired at the man, hitting him in the right arm. A .22 pistol and one round of .40 ammunition were allegedly found on him. The man was subsequently taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital. Police said he was a suspect in several shootings, murders and other gun-related offences.