Rape accused fakes heart attack

A massive manhunt all day yesterday failed to capture the 43-year-old man whom a police report stated, made his daring escape with the police handcuffs.

Police remained tight-lipped on the incident yesterday, but a preliminary report about the incident lodged at the Barrackpore Police Station stated that the man, of Cumuto South Trace, Barrackpore, had been charged with rape, grievous sexual assault and robbery with aggravation. The charges arose out of an incident last weekend in which a woman was attacked at her home in Debe Village, South Trinidad.

After being charged by Cpl Ramjewan, the man was placed in a cell in the Barrackpore Police Station on Wednesday. The man was scheduled to appear in the Princes Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday morning to answer the charges.

However, a police report stated that police officers on duty in the station heard the sound of a person groaning inside the cell at about 3.40 am on Thursday. On checking, the report stated, the officers saw the man lying on the concrete floor, writhing in pain.

A report stated that the man told police officers he was experiencing severe pains in the chest, and asked to be taken for medical treatment.

Cpl Ramjewan and two other officers decided to take the man to the San Fernando General Hospital. The report stated that the police officers unlocked the cell door and handcuffed the man. The officers then proceeded to escort the prisoner through the back entrance of the station which leads to the station’s parking lot.

According to the report, one of the three police officers held the handcuffed man’s arm and escorted him to a police vehicle which was parked at the back of the police station.

However, when the man reached a few feet before the parked police jeep, he pushed down one of the policemen and, with handcuffs still clamped around his hands, jumped over a six-foot wire fence. The police officers gave chase but lost sight of the prisoner. Barrackpore police sought assistance from officers of the Princes Town and San Fernando CID, who, in a combined effort, set up a dragnet to catch the man.

Yesterday, a police party, acting on information, conducted a search of the Moruga forest. If he is caught, he will face charges of escaping police custody, larceny of police handcuffs and assaulting a policeman.

Sgt Siew is heading investigations.