(Trinidad Express) Riot Squad police had to be called in at the Port of Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday after prisoners staged a near-riot at the courthouse in protest of body searches by Court and Process Branch officers.
Heavily armed police officers cordoned off parts of St Vincent Street, outside the court to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic as riot officers sought to quell the disturbance and place the men in prison trucks to be transported back to the Frederick Street Prison without their matters being heard.
Police identified 12 murder accused as being the ringleaders of the protest action and separated them from the other prisoners.
The Express understands that earlier in the day, the men— Reinaldo Macarno, 30; Raymond Birot, 39; Kurt Serrette, 26; Sherwin Alexander also known as “Black” and “Crow”, 24; Terrence “Trix” David, 28; Keston Morris, 21; Gerard Hepburn, 18; Devon Samuel Victor, 18; Keon “Taliban” Lawrence, 28; Joel “Snake” Roberts, 19; Richard “Bulls” Thomas, 29; and a 17-year-old boy had objected to the search.
However, the searches were eventually carried out and a quantity of contraband was found in their possession.
Following the search, officers said the men continued behaving in an unruly way by urinating in the holding cells and throwing faeces, with other prisoners joining in.
The pounding of the holding cells could have been heard from as far as the fourth floor of the building, police said. There was approximately 50 prisoners in the holding cells and they managed to damage the door, police said.
One of the prisoners also reportedly set a T-shirt afire and threw it in the corridor of the courthouse.
Police said the matter for which the men were charged was stood down to the afternoon period to come up before Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington but the protests did not stop.
The men are accused of murdering 24-year-old Ameil George in January of 2010 at Building One, Harding Place, Cocorite. George was chopped multiple times about the body by a group of men.
Officers said, on Tuesday, police found two cellphones and a cellphone charger in the possession of a prisoner at the court, while a scalpel was found in the hair of another.
A quantity of marijuana, a quantity of SIM cards and a razor blade was also reportedly found in the cell.
However, relatives of the men who had gathered outside of the court claimed injustice was being done to their relatives.
“It is two years now they in jail with no evidence. They have no evidence on them, so why they have them in jail? We want justice now,” they said.
The 12 accused had their matter adjourned in their absence to February 3.
