Eleven years after the killing of three friends in Moruga, six police officers accused of the murder have failed in their bid to be granted bail pending their eventual trial.
During a hearing on Thursday, High Court Judge Norton Jack declined to use his discretion to grant the bail applications of the group of police officers, which were brought based on a landmark judgement from the Court of Appeal over the ability of judicial officers to consider bail for the capital offence.
Sgt Khemraj Sahadeo and PCs Renaldo Reviero, Glenn Singh, Roger Nicholas, Safraz Juman, Antonio Ramadin are accused of murdering Alana Duncan, Kerron Eccles and Abigail Johnson on July 22, 2011.
Duncan, 27, of Duncan Village, San Fernando, Eccles, 29, and 20-year-old Johnson, both of St Mary’s Village, Moruga, were driving in Duncan’s vehicle when it was stopped by the officers at the corner of Rochard Douglas Road and Gunness Trace in Barrackpore. Initial reports claimed that the friends shot at the officers, who returned fire.
A WPC was initially charged alongside her former colleagues from the San Fernando Robbery Squad, but the charges were dropped after she agreed to testify against them. She was instead charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice under her plea agreement.
The deaths of the three friends sparked heated protests in Moruga.
In July 2013, the officers were committed to stand trial at the end of their preliminary inquiry. A date for their trial is yet to be set.
Relatives of the three friends have brought a lawsuit against the State over their wrongful deaths and are each seeking over $2 million in compensation.
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