Cop claims: We were attacked by a mob

CONSTABLE Dale Mackoon-singh, took the witness stand in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday during continuation of the Galene Bonadie inquest and told the Coroner that a mob attack on the police, precipitated the firing of a shot which killed Bonadie. PC Mackoonsingh made this revelation shortly after his colleague PC Brian Phillips gave his account of what transpired on the day Bonadie was shot. Mackoonsingh described the people who came to assist their fellow resident who was being arrested, as a “mob” who “swarmed PC Phillips” when he (Phillips) was attempting to make the arrest.

“I would say that our lives (the police officers) were under threat at that time,” Mackoonsingh said. Earlier when PC Phillips took the witness stand, he described as he was about to place a person in a police vehicle shortly after arresting that person, several persons descended on him (Phillips) and began to beat him and also tried to take away his service weapon. PC Phillips, in his testimony, told the court he was with his colleagues Dale Mackoonsingh, Sherwin Sinnette and Imraz Hosein at the time. Bonadie was shot and killed near her Morvant home on April 2, following a confrontation between police and residents of the area. Following the incident, the four officers became the subjects of the inquest held to determine the circumstances surrounding Bonadie’s death.

The four were at the time of the shooting attached to North-Eastern Divisional Task Force. Phillips said after ordering the driver of a vehicle to turn down his windshield, the driver responded by shouting and cursing. “I told the driver he was going to be arrested for obscene language. He came out of the pick-up and I held him with both hands. As I was proceeding to the police vehicle, several persons approached me and took the prisoner away from me,” Phillips told the court. “While this was happening, other persons were pulling at my Galil rifle (a semi-automatic assault weapon) and hitting me about my body. I shouted to my colleagues, ‘they taking my firearm,’” Phillips added.

He said the beating continued for a while with the unidentified persons pulling at his clothes and his weapon, causing his clothing to be torn. “I then heard a loud explosion and the crowd parted. I observed a woman of African decent lying on the ground bleeding from an injury to the head. Officers Mackoonsingh and Sinnette assisted me in putting the woman into the marked police vehicle. After she was placed in the vehicle, we took her to Port-of-Spain General Hospital,” Phillip continued. He said following the incident, he sought medical attention after experiencing severe pain about the body.

PC Mackoonsingh in his testimony, described the same incident to the court — that of Phillips’ attempt to arrest a man from the Morvant area. “Persons were pulling and tugging at his Galil rifle which was strapped across his chest. Phillips was holding the fore-grip of the weapon with both his hands. They hit him several blows about his body. I then heard a loud explosion. The crowd parted and I saw PC Phillips with his clothes torn. His rifle was still strapped across his chest. I also saw a woman lying on the ground bleeding from an injury to the head,” Mackoonsingh said. Hearing resumes today and PC Phillips is expected to be cross-examined.