BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – RETIRED Commissioner of Police Robert Jeffers is of the view that members of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF), who had conducted investigations into the hanging-death of his brother, were sloppy and amateurish in their task.
Speaking with this publication, Jeffers declared that he does not believe his brother was murdered, but the police should have taken every step to eradicate that belief from the minds of other relatives who were at the scene.
Yesterday morning (Jan. 1), Jeffers’ brother, Calvin Roberts, was found hanging in his Trafalgar Village home and was pronounced dead on the scene by Dr. Reginald O’Loughlin.
The retiree explained that after receiving the message of his brother’s demise and on arrival at his home, he was in the yard and Commissioner Celvin ‘CG’ Walwyn invited him to enter house and he was careful not to contaminate the scene while observing the investigators at work.
He said his observation led him to conclude that the officers were not thorough in their investigation and had failed to take a number of factors into consideration.
“I found that the police investigation was amateurish and sloppy. Some family members who were present at the scene had doubts concerning his death, and the police should have taken every step to eradicate beliefs other than suicide.
“I have no inclination that my brother was murdered but, from where I stood in the yard, I observed that they did not check the entire building to know if there were signs of forced entry and neither did they conduct a thorough search to see if he had left a suicide note.”
Jeffers pointed out that professionals would leave no stone unturned and would endeavour to document all possibilities in an effort to rule out murder, robbery, etc. if the nature of the incident were suicide.
He also pointed out that the investigators did not “look to see what medication was in the house” after learning that his brother was diabetic.
Jeffers claimed that from where he stood he saw his brother’s toes were touching the floor but he did not see the position of his heels. He also claimed to have seen the back of the chair, from which his brother might have used to hang himself, was a short distance away west of the body in an upright position.
“The investigators failed to take a number of things into consideration. They did not record the distance of the roof from the floor; the height of the rafter, on which the rope used for hanging was tied, from the floor; the length of the rope from the rafter; my brother’s height; the height of the chair and the distance of it away from the body,” he pointed out, adding that he did not see any of the investigators interviewing family members and neighbours with the view of knowing when the deceased was last seen alive.
The Commissioner (Ret’d) noted that his observations would only be some of the questions that could be asked at a Coroner’s Inquest and, with negative answers, the RSCNPF could be branded as being incompetent.
He was however high in praise of Commissioner Walwyn, who he said was very professional at the scene after observing that he did not intercede while the officers were conducting their investigation and the manner in which he dealt with the bereaved relatives.
Jeffers, who had given yeoman service to the RSCNPF for over three decades, explained what action should be taken by the police when investigating incidents such as this one involving his brother.
“There is a rule of practice employed by law enforcement officers. In every death of this nature, the police must approach it as if they are investigating a homicide. The reason for this practice is to ensure thoroughness, so if it turns out to be a homicide there would be no need for officers returning to the scene after initial investigation to gather evidence. If this is not done, then it would be almost impossible to convict whosoever had committed the crime.”
To lend credence to his statement, Jeffers referred to an incident that occurred in 1989 while he was on official duty in Dominica. He said a man was found dead on the railway line in Challengers and the police had ruled out foul play after learning that the deceased was last seen in a state of intoxication and may have fell and injured his head.
He explained that on hearing of the man state of intoxication, officers pre-judged the cause of death and did not conduct a thorough investigation. However, post mortem results had shown that the man was murdered, and by the time police had returned to the crime scene there was no evidence to hold anyone accountable for his death.
Jeffers, for his part, reiterated that his brother had committed suicide and declared that it is now left on the results of a post mortem to convince other relatives of the cause of Calvin Roberts' death.
