Wife of slain man seeks DPP help

THE wife of a man who was reportedly killed during a shoot-out with the Southern Division Crime Suppression Unit (CSU) has sought assistance from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), as she seeks answers for her husband’s death. Wendy-Ann Gomes visited Newsday’s South Bureau office yesterday to say she had taken the matter to the Acting Assistant DPP, Joan Honore-Paul. Gomes, 31, whose husband Miguel ‘Goat’ Williams was shot to death by police two weeks ago in Macaulay Lands, Claxton Bay, believes he was executed by the police. Gomes said she first went to Honore-Paul last Wednesday to get assistance in the matter of her husband’s death. She said she spoke to Paul on Thursday and met her again yesterday.

Gomes said that Honore-Paul was in the process of obtaining both the files from the police and the death certificate, to review the results of the autopsy. Gomes, now the single mother of seven children whose ages range from two months to 15 years, said the DPP’s office may be her last means of getting answers on her husband’s death. “If I realise I can’t get anywhere, then I might have to leave it just so,” she said. Gomes said there were too many unanswered questions surrounding the circumstances of her husband’s death. She is questioning the fact that despite official police reports that Williams was shot while running away, the autopsy showed that he had been shot multiple times to the front of his body. Gomes said she witnessed the autopsy and claimed her husband was shot more than 20 times. The woman also produced photos of her husband following the autopsy, to prove that he was shot in front.

According to police reports, Williams was a passenger in a car driving by a man who was driving into Macaulay Lands. At the time, CSU officers were conducting a road-block exercise and stopped the car when they realised it had no licence plates. Police claim Williams jumped out of the car, which quickly reversed and sped off, and opened fire at the police, who dived for cover and returned fire. The injured man was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. However, Gomes said the driver of the car spoke to her about the incident a few hours after Williams had died. The driver stated that while he was driving along the road, a police car pulled across the road in front of the vehicle, while a police jeep pulled up to the back. Gomes said the driver told her that Williams panicked, opened the front door and ran into nearby canefields. The driver said that police came up to him and ordered him to continue driving. While driving away, the driver said he heard multiple gunshots. Gomes said anytime her children asked for their father, she keeps telling them he is in heaven. “No one should have to die like this,” Gomes said as she struggled to hold back tears. Checks with Southern Division police yesterday revealed that investigations were still on-going.