Former prison escapee, Christopher “Monster” Selby appeared in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates Court today on 10 charges, including the murder of PC Sherman Maynard.
Selby, 30, is the only surviving member of a trio of prison escapees who broke out of the Port-of-Spain Prison on July 24. He appeared before Magistrate Marcia Ayers Caesar in the 8th Magistrate Court.
The ten charges are: murder, escaping lawful custody, possession of a firearm, committing common assault on Kerron Prime, Jean-Marc Hernandez, and Nicholas Singh, all of whom are prison officers. He was charged individually for each assault. A person can be charged with common law assault if they are threatening another person with a gun.
Selby was also charged with shooting at police officers, Leon Grouse and Tishon Francis, with intent to cause grievous bodily harm armed with a firearm.
The prison escapee was also charged for robbing Javid Ramcharitar of a Nissan Navara valued at $200,000.
Together with two other prisoners, armed with a firearm, he is also accused of stealing two keys for prison gates valued at $140.
He was not called upon to plead to the charges.
According to his lawyer Criston J Williams, Selby wanted to plead guilty to escaping lawful custody, but the police prosecutor, Inspector Winston Dillon denied his request because the Director of Public Prosecutions had to assign a state prosecutor to the case.
Selby’s case was adjourned until September 1.
Selby, along with fellow prisoners Allan “Scanny” Martin, 42, and Hassan Atwell, 41, shot their way out of the Port-of-Spain prison on July 24, killing Maynard as they did so and throwing the city into chaos. Maynard was shot in the front seat passenger seat of a police vehicle as he and two other colleagues were on sentry duty outside the prison. He died of his injuries while undergoing emergency surgery.
Martin was killed in a shootout with police moments later at the Port-of-Spain General Hospital while Atwell was found murdered at East Dry River, Port-of-Spain a day later. Selby surrendered on July 26.