Cop to be charged with manslaughter

EVEN as the widow of a retired WASA worker shed tears at the memory of the loss of her husband at the hands of a police officer, the officer, who will soon be charged with manslaughter, was shielded from the glare of the media by fellow officers, as he made his way out of the Chaguanas Magistrates’ Court. Instructions for a warrant for the arrest of PC Kerry Samad were yesterday given by Coroner Nanette Forde-John at the Borough’s First Magistrates’ Court following an inquest into the circumstances surrounding the fatal shooting of 57-year-old Bernard Leroy Albarado at his George Lane, Cunupia home on February 5, 2003. Samad, who was attached to the Chaguanas Task Force at the time, will be charged with the unlawful killing of Albarado and was granted bail in the sum of $50,000 with a surety.

After the ruling, Samad waited inside the courtroom while his colleagues came up with a plan to get him off the compound without having his photo taken by Newsday’s photographer. He was eventually escorted out of the courtroom surrounded by four officers, with his jacket covering his head, and whisked away in a car driven by a relative. An emotional Sharon Albarado told Newsday she was pleased with the coroner’s finding, although the inquest had forced her to relive the day on which her husband had been taken from her and her four children. “We need to get justice,” she said.  “I have a five-year-old with a dead father for no reason,” she added. According to Albarado, on the fateful day, a party of officers had turned up at their home to execute a search warrant.

She said they left and returned about 30 minutes later and shouted for everyone to stay where they were. At that time, Albarado said, her family and some men who had been doing repair work on the roof were sitting in a shed at the back of the house. Albarado said her husband got up from where he was sitting and was shot in the back. The bullet exited and struck a washing machine, she said.  He was pronounced dead on arrival at the Chaguanas Health Centre. Samad was represented by attorney Varude Badrie-Maharaj, while attorney Colin Selvon sought the interest of the Albarado family. Insp Ashton Clarke represented the State.