SEERATTAN BEYOND HELP

ALTHOUGH the missing part of a medical document had not yet been retrieved, Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) attached to the Emergency Health Services (EHS), Sheldon Jessimy was yesterday allowed by Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls to continue giving evidence at the inquest into the circumstances surrounding the November 20, 2002, fatal shooting of Phillip Seerattan at the International School in Westmoorings.  The inquest is being heard at the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Eighth Court where Mc Nicolls is presiding as Coroner.

Jessimy had started giving evidence on October 29 but was ordered to temporarily step down from the witness stand when it was discovered that part of a medical document he was using as a reference was missing. As soon as he took the stand yesterday, Jessimy informed Mc Nicolls that the missing part still had not been located and presented the Coroner with a letter sent by his (Jessimy) employers. The contents of the letter, however, were not revealed to the media. During cross-examination by the attorney seeking the interest of the Seerattan family, Patricia Roberts, Jessimy was asked to enumerate the wounds he saw on Seerattan’s body. He said there was a gunshot wound to one of his thighs, two to the chest area and one at the back of his ear.  There were also wounds to the abdominal area, he said, but he could not recall how many.  A probing Roberts asked, “When you turned him over did you recall seeing a wound at his throat?” to which Jessimy replied “I cannot recall.”  He added that he could not say if the “actively bleeding” wound at the back of the teen’s ear was a gunshot wound and he was unable to determine the size of it because of Seerattan’s “curly hair.” 
 
According to Jessimy, when he got to the school there was a “heavy police presence” there.  He and his partner, Nadia King, were informed that two people had been injured, one of which was the assailant. After attending to the first patient, they were informed by police that it was “safe” to attend to the other patient and were escorted by a “group of police officers” to the upstairs computer room.  There, he said, he found the teenager, lying face down with his head halfway under a table.  Jessimy said Seerattan was unresponsive and his pulse was weak. Roberts asked the EMT if he had seen any weapon near the area in which the youth was lying, to which Jessimy replied. “I did not pay any particular attention.” While he was being rushed to the St Clair Medical Centre, CPR was administered, Jessimy said.  Upon their arrival at the centre, he said, Seerattan was assessed by a doctor who told the EHS team that the youth was “beyond help.” The teenager was shot by two police officers after he entered the school’s compound with a firearm and shot a security guard. The two officers, WPC Suad Weekes and PC Gary Moore are being represented by attorney Martin George. Attorney Lydia Mendonca is seeking the interest of the International School, while Sgt Kenneth Cordner is prosecuting.  Hearing resumes today.