Morvant shootout

THREE bandits described by police as a menace to society, were gunned down during a shootout with officers of the North-Eastern Division Task Force on Thursday night in Morvant.

One of the dead men was identified by police as 28-year-old Nigel Mathews whose aliases were “Yardie” and “Junior Carlos Mcintyre,” of Mt Hope Road.

The other men were identified as Mathews’ brother Cecil Anthony Stanley, 24, and Steven Burgese, 29, of Bourg Terrace in El Socorro.

Police officers revealed the three were wanted for several crimes including murder, kidnapping and armed robbery.

Mathews was the prime suspect in the shooting death of Special Branch Police officer ag Inspector Edward Williams in 2004 at the St Augustine home of Dr Marjorie Thorpe who at the time was visited by former President Arthur NR Robinson. Williams was shot five times.

Mathews was also wanted for several robberies, shootings and other serious crimes.

In January 2004, he was one of three men freed in the Port-of-Spain High Court for the murder of Diego Martin resident Mervyn Wright.

Wright was shot dead on June 3, 2003, during a robbery at Ultra Care Pharmacy, Diego Martin Main Road.

His brother and Burgese were described as Mathews’ accomplices..

Reports revealed that around 8.30 pm on Thursday, the three went to Paradise Heights in Morvant, where they shot a man in the back.

While fleeing the scene, Mathews who was driving, almost collided with a police vehicle which was transporting officers of the North-Eastern Task Force.

Officers called on Mathews to stop but he sped off which resulted in a chase. Shortly after, the men alighted from the vehicle at Paradise Heights in Morvant.

They reportedly began shooting at the police who returned fire. When the smoke cleared, the three suspects lay dead on the ground.

Officers seized a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol, a Walther nine-millimetre pistol and a Luger nine-millimetre pistol. The green Mitsubishi Lancer which Mathews drove was subsequently traced by police to a Diego Martin man who reported being robbed of the vehicle.

The Glock pistol was taken from a San Juan businessman in April 2005. The bodies were viewed by a District Medical Officer and ordered removed to the Forensic Science Centre in St James.

The officers involved in the shootout were called to the office of ag Commissioner of Police Glen Roach yesterday and commended for their action which led to the recovery of the stolen guns and car. Relatives of the dead men who turned up at the Forensic Science Centre to witness the autopsies claimed police brutality in their relatives’ deaths.