BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ACTING COMMISSIONER Stafford Liburd has debunked the rumours and a claim that the off-duty Constable who shot and killed Philo Wallace had resumed active duty in the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force.
Liburd made this declaration following an earlier publication today (Dec. 1) in which a senior police officer had stated that the Constable, who was on sick leave shortly after the shooting incident, has since resumed active duty.
“The Constable who is involved in the shooting-death of Philo Wallace is not on active duty. He is presently on administrative leave, but he is very much restricted while on that leave. The restriction on that leave does not permit him to be around in certain areas of the Police Force.”
He stated that the officer was on sick leave shortly after the shooting incident and, on completion of that, the restriction was implemented.
Asked if the embattled Constable was restricted from entering any police station, the Commissioner (Ag) said: “He is restricted in a number of ways...where he can go, how he can go, and in so doing he must get the appropriate permission.”
Liburd pointed out that a Coroner’s Inquest is scheduled to be held.
“We are biding, waiting for the Coroner’s Inquest to be held, but I cannot say how soon. However, we will try to advance it as quickly as we can.”
He informed that the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had given the Police Force a directive to move towards the Coroner’s Inquest, and “once it is held and whatever the outcome, we are obliged by law to follow”.
According to report, at approximately 3:45 a.m. on Saturday, October 17, 2015, an incident took place at Enrique Bar in Charlestown, Nevis where there was an altercation which resulted in 17-year-old Philo Wallace being shot in the chest and the wounding of a police officer.
Wallace was rushed to the Alexandra Hospital where he died about half an hour after.
Since then, the Police Force had held a press conference during which members of the High Command and Commander of the Nevis Division indicated that the matter was under investigation and the officer who shot Wallace was on sick leave.
The police’s statement caused a public outcry for justice, especially on Nevis, with comments such as “the police investigate their own”, and “there should be an independent investigation”.
Contacted by this publication, Wallace’s father, Hugh Oswald Wallace, said he has doubts that justice would be done for his son.
The senior Wallace also said that he does not have much confidence in the current system where police officers investigate their own
“The thing about it is once police are going to judge police you could expect the worst. I have an issue with the police trying the police. That’s a big, big, big problem. A police cannot try a police. No justice will be there! I just don’t believe any justice will be there, because I just don’t trust them. An independent body should have been set up to investigate. Police judging police? I don’t trust that at all, at all, at all. Some of them are very dishonest. We still have some good police, but some of them are dishonest.”
