Senior cop gets leave to visit second doctor

DESPITE complaints from defence attorney Frank Solomon SC, Senior Supt Maurice Piggott was yesterday granted leave by Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls to get a second opinion on a medical condition the officer claimed was not improving. Piggott, who was on Tuesday ordered by Mc Nicolls to report to the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court to give evidence at the Piarco Airport Corruption Inquiry, had been diagnosed as having “out of control hypertension” by police doctor Raymond Tom Pack. Tom Pack has been treating the officer since 1992. When the matter was called at 10.15 am yesterday, State attorney Gilbert Peterson SC told Mc Nicolls that Piggott had a “medical problem.” The officer was summoned to the front of the courtroom by Mc Nicolls and asked to explain his condition. According to Piggott, the symptoms remained the same despite the treatment he had received from Tom Pack. He said he decided to seek a second opinion because he did not want the condition to deteriorate.

He asked the magistrate’s permission to leave for a 10.45 am appointment to visit another doctor, whose office was located in St Clair. “I have to seek my interest. My health is at stake and I am seeking leave to look after it,” the officer said. In response to questions by Mc Nicolls about the cause of the problem, Piggott said there were a combination of factors, one being the nature of his job. However, he added that coming to court to give evidence was not one of those factors. Mc Nicolls allowed the officer to leave “given the circumstances.” Solomon congratulated the prosecution on accomplishing what it had set out to do, and accused them of coming prepared for an adjournment. He noted the absence of prosecutors Deputy DPP Carla Brown-Antoine and Edward Jenkins QC, saying that Peterson had been left to hold the fort. Robert Boodoosingh, corporate secretary at the Airports Authority between 1995 and 1997, was recalled to the witness box. He was cross-examined by defence attorneys Allan Alexander SC, Frank Solomon SC, Desmond Allum SC, Vernon de Lima, and Gillian Lucky. Joshey Mahabir, former general manager of the Airports Authority, will begin giving evidence when the inquiry resumes today.