By Sue-Ann Wayow
POLICE officers assaulted members of the Islamic community and desecrated their place of worship at Richplain, Diego Martin in April this year.
These are the findings of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) following an investigation into exercises conducted by officers attached to the Inter-Agency Task Force and the Western Division Task Force at the Masjid on April 22 and 23 that resulted in the death of PC Clarence Gilkes on April 22.
In a media release on Monday, the PCA stated, “A preliminary investigation was conducted and during the course of the investigation, the PCA obtained information and evidence that officers assaulted members of the Islamic community who were present at the Masjid at that time and desecrated the place of worship while conducting their search.
“This investigation also revealed that the party of officers involved in the exercise that ultimately led to the death of No. 18464 PC Clarence Gilkes on 22nd April, 2022 at upper Richplain Road, Diego Martin was involved in the egregious acts at the Masjid.”
The PCA stated that it was of the view that several criminal offences may have been committed and referred the matter to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Commissioner of Police for the related disciplinary offences on June 27.
There may have been several breaches of the Constitution and the PCA’s dossier was disseminated to the Office of the Attorney General.
“As an independent oversight body, the PCA is committed to ensuring that no police officer acts above the Rule of Law and to empowering the citizenry to report incidents of police misconduct and/or criminal activity,” the PCA stated.
Last month, the PCA revealed from its investigations that PC Gilkes was shot by a fellow police officer and that the incident was “of the clearest examples of abuse of police power that the PCA has investigated to date.”
