Now mental patient shot dead by police

BEREAVED relatives of a mental patient who was shot dead by police in Moruga intend to mobilise the community and stage a protest in front of the San Fernando Homicide Bureau to demand justice. “My brother did not attack the police. He was running from them when they shot him in cold blood. They killed him like a dog on the road. We want justice,” cried the deceased’s sister Everlyn Hospedales Hospedales’ brother, Lawrence, 37, an out-patient of the St Ann’s Hospital, was shot in his leg and chest after he allegedly threw stones at the police jeep and attacked a policeman with a cutlass on Thursday.

A police report stated that shortly after 1 pm, two policemen of the Moruga Police Station attempted to execute a warrant on the man along Penal Rock Road, near Spring Trace. Lawrence, the report added, began throwing large stones at the police jeep, shattering the windscreen. When the police attempted to subdue him, Lawrence reportedly attacked them with a cutlass. Lawrence  was pronounced dead on arrival at the San Fernando General Hospital. However, the dead man’s three sisters — Everlyn, Christy and Cerenia — told Newsday that their brother had been constantly harassed and provoked by the police. According to the man’s sisters, in a bid to escape the police harassment, Lawrence broke down his small wooden house three months ago and resorted to living in a camp in the bushes off Spring Trace.

Recalling the incident on Thursday, Christy said after completing a job for a villager, her brother was returning to his home with his tools — a fork and cutlass — and a bowl of food. Christy said two policemen in a Hilux pick-up, travelling in the opposite direction, spotted him and turned their vehicle around. “They began trailing him and pointing their guns at him. He began running and threw the fork and cutlass he was holding in the cane,” she said. Hospedales said Lawrence ran into their uncle’s yard and was followed by one of the policemen, who stood by a coconut three in the yard and was aiming his gun at Lawrence. She said her brother ran through a track in the bushes, but when he came back out on the main road the police were still there.

Christy claims villagers saw when the policeman shot Lawrence in the leg. Bleeding from the wound, Lawrence limped to a neighbour’s home and was crawling up their front step when the officer discharged two more rounds, Christy said. One of the bullets struck him in the chest. With tears streaming down her face, she said the policeman handcuffed Lawrence and dragged his limp body to the police jeep and threw him in the tray. “Everybody who saw said he was already dead. His legs were hanging off the van,” she sobbed. A crying Hospedales said Lawrence was mentally unstable for 12 years but he was never violent. “When the police harass him he used to insult them, but never curse them. He did not deserve this,” she wept.

Hospedales said they were awaiting authorisation from the police before staging the protest. “Citizens of this country have to know what is going on,” she added. She said she also intends to meet with Police Commissioner Trevor Paul, and National Security Minister Martin Joseph. A senior policeman said an investigation has been launched into the incident. An autopsy was expected to be performed yesterday at the Forensic Science Centre, Port-of-Spain. Acting ASP Black-man is continuing investigations. Earlier this month, residents of Egypt Village, Point Fortin, staged a demonstration in front of the Point Fortin Police Station calling for the arrest of a policeman who allegedly shot a 19-year-old youth in his head. That policeman has since been charged with murder.