BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE Coroner’s Inquest into the shooting-death of Philo Wallace by an off-duty policeman will begin tomorrow (Jan. 21) and the people in Nevis are asked to remain calm and allow the judicial process to take place.
This request is being made by the senior members of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force who, in a press release confirmed that the Inquest would commence tomorrow at the Coroner’s Court in Charlestown, Nevis.
“In accordance with the Coroner’s Act, 5 Part lV, section 18, ‘good and lawful jurors’ have been summoned to form the jury in the matter and the rule of law in accordance with the Coroner’s Act is being followed in all aspects.
“We understand that emotions are currently running high, but would urge the people of Nevis to remain calm and to allow the judicial process to take place,” the release read.
It also stated that the Inquest may take a number of days to conclude and the Force would review the outcome and make changes, where necessary, to improve its service to the public.
“We will await the outcome of the inquest which is likely to take place over a number of days, and will use this opportunity to review and where necessary, improve policing, specifically concerning those matters where an officer of the law is implicated. Once the inquest is over we will use the findings to develop our organisational learning and implement any changes that may be necessary to improve our service and accountability to the public.”
Philo Wallace, a promising 17-year-old cricketer of Hamilton Village in Nevis, was shot and killed by an off-duty policeman on October 17 last year, which resulted in a public outcry for justice.
According to reports, at about 3:45 a.m. on the day in question, he was shot in the chest while at Enrique’s Bar in Cedar Trees, Charlestown, Nevis and died at the Alexandra Hospital approximately half hour after arriving there.
Reports also indicate that prior to the shooting, there was an altercation within the bar where the police officer sustained an injury to his head.
As a result, investigations into the matter were done by the police and the file was sent to the then Acting Director of Public Prosecutions, Arudranauth Gossai, who wrote a letter to Her Worship Jasmine Clarke on Wednesday, November 4, 2015 advising her to hold a Coroner’s Inquest into the matter.
Many people, including Wallace’s father and other family members as well as members of the recently formed civic group, Save St. Kitts and Nevis, and also a prominent businessman and Syndicated Columnist, are of the view that instead an inquest be held into the teen’s death, the off-duty policeman should have been arrested and charged as is normally done in incidents of such nature.
They are also of the view that though the Coroner would conduct the Inquest with a high degree of professionalism as required by judges and magistrates, the possibility still exists for a cover up because of the “police-arranged witnesses and police-arranged jury”.
