Prison break in Tobago
One of four prisoners who escaped from the Scarborough Police Station Tuesday night was shot and killed while the others were recaptured when a heavily armed contingent of policemen from units/stations across the island swooped down on the sleepy fishing village of Speyside late yesterday. Dead is Damien Gould who, along with Hassan Mohammed and Shaian Noel, were before the Scarborough courts on charges of robbery, kidnapping and serious indecency. Gould’s body was taken to the Scarborough Hospital in a police vehicle just after 5 pm, after the skirmish at Speyside. Mark Blake, 27, of Sangre Grande, a murder accused with a violent history, was also taken to the hospital in handcuffs. Police sources told Newsday that Blake was not injured, but was "playing games" with the police. Blake and Mohammed were recaptured at Speyside. In fact, news of Mohammed’s capture came while police officers and members of the media were still at the hospital. Hours earlier, around midday, Shaian was held in the nearby village of Charlotteville, where he had been reportedly attempting to secure the services of a pirogue to take them off the island. Following his recapture, the police contingent, led by detective Insp Garfield Moore of the Scarborough CID, acting on a tip, converged on Speyside, where Gould was fatally shot during a clash with the lawmen. The men reportedly escaped from the holding cells at the Scarborough Police Station at 10.30 pm Tuesday by sawing through the steel bar of the cell in which they were being kept. Being on remand in prison in Trinidad, they were brought to Tobago for court appearances on Tuesday. Blake is charged with the murder of 20-year-old Larry Renwick Phillips, of Moriah, Tobago, and the attempted murder of Darion Picton, 21, of Sangre Grande, at a rented apartment at Glen Road in Scarborough last March 27 (Easter Sunday). Blake shot into the limelight when he launched a vicious verbal and physical attack on members of the media at his first court appearance and had to be restrained by several policemen. Extra precautionary measures were instituted in the courtroom, with Blake being surrounded by policemen, and on several occasions appearing before the magistrate in handcuffs. Blake is also alleged to have slashed another prisoner about the body in a savage attack at the holding cells of the Scarborough Magistrates’ Court, while, in another violent incident, he reportedly attacked several policemen while being escorted to the Scarborough Prison. Meanwhile, Newsday was told that investigations into the circumstances surrounding the prisoners’ escape were continuing.
Comments
"Prison break in Tobago"