BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – FAMILY members of the late Trevor Ian Douglas, also known as Eldred, is calling for an independent investigation into his death and have proof of the Police Officer who shot him in the back from a leaked restricted document.
Speaking yesterday (Nov. 11) with SKNVibes, brother of the deceased, Ricky Rouphine said that, on behalf of the Douglas and Rouphine family, he had written a letter to the Attorney General seeking his intervention for an independent investigation into the matter.
The letter, headlined “Investigation into the death of Mr. Trevor Douglas” and dated November 4, 2013, was copied to the Commissioner of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, Celvin ‘CG’ Walwyn; Director of Public Prosecutions Travers Sinanan; Prime Minister the Rt. Hon Dr. Denzil Douglas; the Governor General, His Excellency Sir Edmund Lawrence; and Media Houses.
“I write to bring to your attention the concerns of the Douglas & Rouphine Family in relation to the investigation and subsequent developments regarding the shooting death of our brother, Trevor Douglas, by an officer of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police, specifically a member of the Delta Force, under the command of Commissioner of Police, Mr. Celvin Walwyn who we believe is working to deny us justice in this matter,” Rouphine wrote.
Stating the family members’ concerns, Rouphine noted that it was through the media they heard that the investigation into Douglas’ shooting death was completed, which he claimed was not the proper approach.
“We heard via media reports that the investigation into the shooting death of Trevor has been completed. We do not feel that we should have heard about it via media; the proper approach would have been to communicate directly with us.
“The Commissioner in correspondence sent to me on the 24th April 2013, which I have attached for quick reference, said he will make the results of the investigation public. To date, he has not made a copy available to our family nor made the report public.”
Rouphine also claimed that he had recently visited the Police Headquarters in Basseterre with the aim of getting an appointment to see the Commissioner in order for him to seek a copy of the report, but was told that Commissioner Walwyn was out of office.
“I was told that he was not in that afternoon but they will past on the message the next day. I called the following day and the day after. I was told he was given the message but gave no instructions.
“Later, a family member saw Commissioner Walwyn and took the opportunity to ask him about the investigation. The Commissioner said people are making this case political and there are other cases. He also said we have to protect the police too. Instead of expressing regret and sorrow for the lost of our brother, Commissioner Walwyn went on to make allegations against our deceased brother by saying he was seen throwing rocks in the windscreen of a vehicle then ran away and came back to throw more rocks.”
Rouphine has in his possession copies of two restricted documents of the Police Force sent to the Commissioner - Crimes Offence and Matters of Interest Reports of the Police for the 24 hours ending 06:00hrs on 27th and for the 24 hours ending 06:00hrs 28th March, 2013.
He noted that the documents contravened statements made by the Commissioner.
“In these reports, the officer who did the shooting is identified as a member of the Delta Squad. The said officer is still working in the Delta Squad and carrying a firearm thereby putting the members of the public at risk. He was seen on duty for the Unity March and this said officer is also being observed on many occasions both on and off duty depicting nonchalance behavior in public.”
Rouphine and other members of Douglas’ family are of the view that the Commissioner is sending a wrong message to his subordinates.
“We believe the Commissioner’s actions and inactions towards the officer who shot Trevor with a single bullet to the upper left area of his back while he was running away is sending a message to the officers under his command that they can shoot and kill; be the judge, jury and executioner on the spot, without fear of consequences for their actions.”
They are also of the view that the Commissioner would use his office to obstruct proper investigations into the matter, and that they have lost confidence in the Police Force under its current leadership.
“We also believe the Commissioner’s statements clearly show that he has no interest in seeing justice done in this case. In this light we further believe that he will use his office as Commissioner to obstruct a proper investigation to protect the officer.
“Given the above reasons we wish to state that we have lost all confidence in the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force under the Command of Commissioner of Police, Mr. Celvin Walwyn to conduct an impartial investigation into this matter. We believe the only way to restore full confidence to the general public relating to this case is for an independent investigation to be conducted, independent of Commissioner Celvin Walwyn and his Officers.”
The family members are therefore requesting that the Attorney General authorise an independent investigation into the shooting death of Douglas, as “we look forward to hearing from you in due course”.
Douglas’ lifeless body was discovered on the morning of Wednesday, March 27, 2013 lying on a narrow space between the Central Guest House and Apartments building and an abandoned building south of it in the vicinity of Jenkins Funeral Home.
An investigation conducted by SKNVibes at that time revealed that shortly before 1:00 a.m. on the day in question, the former Bobo Dread member of St. Paul’s Village who was residing with his children and their mother at Shear Lane in Basseterre at the time of his demise, allegedly smashed the front windscreen and the two right windows of a silver-gray Toyota pickup that belongs to the leader of the Bobo Dreads.
The pickup was parked on Victoria Road opposite the Star of India Restaurant and Douglas allegedly smashed the windows and windscreen with a hammer, which was said to have been found on the ground next to his body when it was discovered.
It was also revealed that whilst carrying out his destructive actions, he was approached by a group of persons and he jumped the eastern fence of the Anglican Church in his bid to escape.
He allegedly ran along the grounds of the Anglican Church and scaled the wall on the western side, landed on College Street Ghaut, ran in a southern direction along that street, turned west onto Cayon Street then south into Central Market Street.
It was further revealed that during his bid to escape, a single shot rang out and it is suspected that he was hit in the back whilst running in College Street Ghaut.
SKNVibes spoke with a number of persons who, on condition of anonymity, claimed to have heard the report of gunfire at approximately 12:45 a.m. and a male voice saying, “A think a hit him.”
Since then, family members had voiced their displeasure in the unexplained circumstances surrounding his death and had written a letter to the Commissioner of Police seeking answers to a number of questions.
On Tuesday (Apr. 30), the Commissioner of Police was contacted for a comment on the contents of the letter and he indicated to this media house that he had responded to the author.
“I responded to the letter and told him [Mr. Rouphine] that it is an active investigation and the results will be made public when completed. The police cannot discuss active investigations.”
Subsequently, in May, a release from the Police Press and Public Relations Officer, Inspector Lyndon David, stated: “The Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force have just concluded a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr. Douglas and have forwarded the case file to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for her consideration. The police will abide by, and adhere to, whatever decision the DPP makes based on her review of the case file.”
A follow-up investigation by this media house however revealed that Douglas was shot in the back by a member of the RSCNPF.
It also revealed that through the efforts of the Commissioner, an overseas-based ballistics expert who was recently in St. Kitts, had found that the bullet which killed Douglas was fired from a firearm that belongs to the Police Force.
Trevor Ian ‘Eldred’ Douglas was laid to rest at the St. Paul’s Parish Cemetery on Friday, April 5, 2013.
