PCA: Cops in raid on Rich Plain mosque may have committed criminal offences

Black Immigrant Daily News

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Some of the police officers who responded to search for suspects in Rich Plain Road, Diego Martin on April 22, after PC Clarence Gilkes was shot and killed. File photo/Angelo Marcelle

THE Police Complaints Authority (PCA) has forwarded a file to both the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Office of the Attorney General, after an investigation found that officers who raided a mosque in Rich Plain, Diego Martin in April, may have committed not only criminal offences but also breaches to the Constitution.

This was confirmed in a press release issued by the PCA on Monday.

The release said that the PCA began investigations into the conduct of officers from the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) and the Western Division Task Force who participated in exercises in Rich Plain between April 22-23.

During those exercises, one of the officers – PC Clarence Gilkes – was shot dead.

The PCA said that it investigated the officers’ conduct during a raid on the Masjid al Hudaa and during the course of the investigation, the PCA received information and other evidence pointing to police officers assaulting members of the Islamic community who were present at the mosque and also desecrating that place of worship.

The PCA also learnt that the party of officers involved in the raid on the mosque, was involved in exercise hours earlier, in which PC Gilkes was killed.

The PCA said it was of the view that several criminal offences may have been committed and as such, it referred the matter to the DPP as well as the Acting Police Commissioner for action for the related disciplinary offences, on June 27.

The release added that the PCA’s dossier on its investigations into the police officers in question was also forwarded to the Office of the Attorney General as there may have been breaches to the Constitution.

Gilkes, 44, was shot and killed after officers received a report of men with assault rifles in the Rich Plain area.

According to the official police account, Gilkes was killed when gunmen shot at him and other officers. However, an autopsy later revealed he was shot in the neck from and that the bullet which ended his life, was issued by the TTPS.

An earlier PCA release, issued a week ago, said it found that officers involved in the Rich Plain raid, had misled acting CoP McDonald Jacob in terms of what really went on which led to PC Gilkes’ death.

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