Police Officer Kicked Out of Court for Inconsistencies in Laddie Gillett’s Murder Trial

Police Constable Claude Augustine was one of the police officers who testified in the case in February of this year at the High Court in Dangriga.  His testimony was shaky at best, and was found to be riddled with inconsistencies, which led Justice Antoinette Moore evicting him from the courtroom.  Today, Justice Moore reiterated that she did not accept Augustine’s claim that a scuffle occurred and stated that the cop’s actions in the court were improper for that of a police officer. According to Attorney, Richard Bradley, the office of the DPP was instructed to investigate the matter but is yet to make meaningful steps toward reprimanding the cop for his blatant dishonesty.

Richard “Dickie” Bradley, Attorney: “And the judge actually mentioned in open court that the persons who are in authority need to do something about one particular officer who gone to court and pap showed the court system. He didn’t have a gun then he had a gun, oh I never had one gun you know I had two guns, oh one of the guns is my private gun the next one I never really signed out for it but I signed for some – no, no , no they need to deal with that. And if you check you will see nothing has happened. Those are very serious matters coming out of the court. The judge has said a lot of things you know so let me say something. I want to ask all my colleagues who wear these Batman robes- I was going to use a derogatory John Crow term but I want to appeal to all my colleagues to carefully read Justice Antoinette Moore’s decision handed down today. I want to urge the minister responsible for the police he’s an attorney like myself who has sworn an oath that I have sworn he should read that. The Commissioner of Police should read that, the media should call on them after they have read it to say what they’re going to to. We can’t continue in this country to put ourselves through this business, keep having police abusing – because they’re poorly trained.”

Commissioner of Police, Chester Williams, has since weighed in on the issue, saying that the cop is being investigated. He says the department is working with the Prosecutor, Crown Counsel Javier Chan, to determine Augustine’s fate. 

Chester Williams, Commissioner of Police: “Well I was told of Claude Augustine’s testimony from the outset and we are currently awaiting a report from the prosecutor who is then going to give us the transcript from what was said in court and then that will be compared to the statement that he had given to the police in the initial stage and based on that we will decide with the assistance of the DPP of course if in fact he could be prosecuted for perjury.”