‘Inmates did not kill my son’

EVANS ALLEN, father of murdered Carrera Island Prison inmate Ian Allen, yesterday stated at his son’s funeral that he did not believe Allen’s fellow inmates were behind his murder. While not revealing why he had this belief, Allen called on the police to, “use your expertise and experience” to solve the case and bring his son’s killer/s to justice. The funeral service for Ian Allen was held at the Church of God in Princes Town at 2 pm. His father also called on the police investigators to go beyond relying on interviews of inmates to reach a conclusion as to who killed his son. The prisoner was supposed to be released from prison next April after serving almost eight years behind bars for unlawfully killing his grandfather Lionel Allen, 97.

Instead, Allen’s bloated body, which bore marks of violence, was found floating in the sea off Carenage two Thursdays ago. A large stone was tied to his limbs. “There is a lack of responsibility on the part of the authorities in the prison system. The lives of persons (inmates) are being slaughtered too regularly because of the lack of proper supervision by officers in the prison system,” Allen told Newsday minutes before the funeral service began. He added that inmates who witnessed his son’s murder were afraid to speak out because their lives could be in jeopardy. The death of his son, Allen said, “makes me wonder whether it made sense to employ these persons (prison officers) who are paid to take prisoners into their care and custody.” During the sermon, Pastor Lloyd Johnson said the fact that Allen’s body resurfaced was God’s way of saying the truth could not be buried. After the service, Allen’s body was interred at the Navet Public Cemetery in Princes Town.