(Trinidad Guardian) Commissioner of Police Gary Griffith has said he is willing to meet with Darren Joseph, the husband of Ornella Greaves despite Joseph’s statements towards him on live television.
Greaves, 30, was fatally shot during a confrontation and police and protesters at Beetham Gardens on Tuesday.
She was pregnant with what would have been her sixth child, and her fifth child with Joseph.
An investigation is ongoing concerning who actually shot her.
During a live interview, a distraught Joseph expressed what he would do should he meet Commissioner Griffith.
The Top Cop confirmed he would still meet with Joseph despite the outburst.
“Yeah I will speak to the individual even though he said what he intended to do to me and my family. I understand he is hurting and obviously I would be more than willing to meet with him,” said Griffith during a TTPS press conference on Wednesday morning.
Griffith also acknowledged the possibility that rival gangs colluded to put together yesterday’s demonstration which he maintained was an attempt to destablise the country.
“It is quite possible. It is amazing that the vast majority of 538 murders last year was based on one group trying to kill others in the other group and what brings them together is the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And if that is what two murderous gangs together, to try to form some sort of strategic alliance it says a lot about the character of those individuals,” said the Commissioner.
Griffith also hit back at a newspaper editorial which criticised his decision to stay at the operation command centre, as he explained that was a tactical approach to handling a man-made or natural disaster.
He also slammed the newspaper’s suggestion that the police had no evidence that there was a plot to destablise the country, as he said it descredited the Country’s intelligence agency.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Jayson Forde also revealed members of public also tipped off the police to Tuesday’s events.
“Because of our partnership with our citizens we were getting snippets of information since the night before that some type of disruption was planned for yesterday. What we did not have was the magnitude, the scale that this disruption was about. So we pre-planned and even though we pre-planned because that operation was calculated, and when you look at what happened yesterday it was calculated,” said Forde.
