Retired senior cop called ‘diabolical liar’

Charles SC, waded into Ancil Coa as he stood in the witness box for a third time, in the Port-of- Spain Fourth Assizes.

Addressing the issue of notes from the crime scene at Sawmill, Avenue, Barataria, Charles said, “Mr Coa, I am putting to you, that you are a diabolical liar, since in the station diary you recorded the body of Kerwin Cyrus was 100 feet from the car, and later you asserted that the body was 45 feet from the car. This is more than double the original estimation.”

“I am not a liar sir. It was a mistake,” Coa calmly replied.

“I am also putting to you,” Charles continued, “that you are a liar when you said that you had presumed the main witness Sean Quamina was interrogated by WPC Martin, Cpl Jacob, and Acting Inspector Abraham for some eight hours. It could not be a presumption when earlier you made a definite statement in the magistrates’ court under oath that you knew Quamina was questioned by these three officers.”

Cyrus aka “Ox,” and Kerwin Hinds aka “Richie Rich,” were gunned down in a trace just off Sawmill Avenue, Barataria. Keron Lopez aka “Bellies,” and Garvin Sookram aka “Beam,” are accused of the double murder. Quamina is the states’ main witness.

He claimed he was there when the two men were murdered. Charles SC is representing Lopez in the matter.

The Senior Counsel accused Coa of keeping pertinent information from the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), about his interaction with Quamina at the Morvant Police Station.

“Mr Coa,” Charles said, “your investigation in this matter was shoddy. It was shoddy because, you failed to inform the DPP that Quamina lied to you; you failed to provide any written record of the fact that Quamina had lied to you before the DPP gave you instructions to charge; and you failed to tell the DPP that Quamina was smoking marijuana when the incident happened. You also failed to take Quamina with you to the scene of the crime with the draughtsman to get an accurate account of where the bodies were.

“No I do not agree that the investigation was shoddy. I did good investigations before. This was like any other good investigation. However I agree that there are cases where I had done better work,” Coa explain.

Charles then slammed the verification procedure which was used to identify Lopez as one of the suspects. Charles contended that the verification exercise conducted by “a so called independent,” officer Solomon Koon-Koon was not independent since Cao had instructed Koon-Koon before the exercise was done, and that he (Coa) was present in the building when the exercise took place.

Additionally, Charles suggested that Coa knew a number of guns were involved in the offence yet he as an officer, failed to have search warrants executed at the homes of the two accused persons, and the home of Quamina. Coa in turn admitted that no warrants were executed.

The matter continues on Monday before Justice Joan Charles.