| Telephone records presented to the Commission of Inquiry (COI) yesterday showed that former Commander of E and F Division, Clifton Hicken, called Crime Chief Seelall Persaud four times on his cell phone before the July 18 shooting in Linden. That shooting left three persons dead and several dozens injured.Telephone records also showed that between 17:55hours and 17:56 hours on the said day, three calls were made from the Ministry of Home Affairs to the Crime Chief’s cell phone.Crime Chief Seelall PersaudAttorney-at-law Nigel Hughes, for those injured at Linden, posed questions to the Crime Chief pertaining to his actions on July 18.The Crime Chief said that he spoke with Commander Hicken on July 18, but that was after 19:00hours on the day of the shooting. “At no time before, did I speak with Hicken,” he testified. Persaud however said when asked by Hughes, that he would not deny speaking with Hicken prior to 19:00hours on July 18 if phone records showed that he did. He explained that even if so was proven, he had no recollection of speaking with the former E and F Commander.The phone records were shown to Persaud and he accepted receiving calls from Hicken at 14:36 hours, 14:58hours, 17:37hours and 17:41hours on July 18. Some of those calls lasted between 27 seconds and 127 seconds. Persaud however maintained that he could not remember receiving the phone calls and when asked he said he could not remember the contents of those conversations.The Crime Chief explained that Hicken may have called him because since the commencement of the protest action in Linden prior to July 18, the Commander had been in constant contact with him, relating the status in Linden.He said that he would not retain those phone calls since there was nothing significant about the conversations. He said, when asked by Commissioner K.D. Knights, that he was able to retain Hicken’s phone calls subsequent to 19:00hours since it related to shootings by the police and the news of injured protestors. Persaud also testified that he only learnt about the incidents in Linden subsequent to 19:00hours.The Crime Chief further testified that on July 18 he never spoke with Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee. He said that he never spoke to anyone at the Home Affairs Ministry regarding the Linden matter. He also said that he can’t remember talking to anyone at the Home Affairs Ministry on matters other than the Linden matter and if he did, that would be normal.Attorney Nigel Hughes suggested to Persaud that the number 225-7270 was the direct line to Home Affairs Minister and he (Persaud) received three calls from that number on July 18 between 17:55hours and 17:56 hours. Persaud however related that he would not know if the number was the Minister’s direct line.He said that as far as he is aware, to get to the Minister someone always answers the phone. On every occasion, he said that when he calls the Minister, he goes through someone else.Persaud said that he would not deny receiving calls from the Home Affairs Ministry since he is in constant contact with the Minister about several law enforcement and security programmes spearheaded by the Ministry that he is engaged in.Apart from that information, Persaud said that in a review of the police file into the Linden shooting, it was apparent that the person or persons who killed the three persons in Linden had to have used shotguns. Persuad however, said that according to investigations police officers could not have killed the Linden protestors.He said that he would not say it was civilians who did the shooting but it was persons other than police officers who did the shooting.Investigations to ascertain who fired at the protestors, Persaud said, have not proven that persons other than the police shot at the protestors.At the beginning of his testimony, the Crime Chief said that he may have used the cell phones of other police officers to make contact with Hicken. Persaud said he did speak with the Commander by cell phone and explained that subsequent to 19:00hours on July 18, he received a call from Police Commissioner Leroy Brumell and was informed of the Linden incident.Persaud said that other officers were present at Brumell’s office and together they were trying to get information from Linden. As a result, Persaud said that he may have used his cell phone, the Commissioner’s phone or the cell phones of the other officers present.The Crime Chief, in response to another line of questions, testified that after calls from the Commissioner he had an investigation conducted into the Linden shooting. He said around 05:00hours on July 19 he verified that three persons had died at Linden, but prior to that he verified that the police had discharged their weapons.Persaud testified that on July 18 he was informed by Commander Hicken that the police had discharged shotgun rounds on the ground during the Linden protest. On July 19, The Crime Chief said he received information as to which ranks had discharged weapons.Persaud said he gave instructions that the firearms be sent to the forensic laboratory headed by Superintendent Stephen Greaves which test for gun powder residue.Persaud said that checks are still being made to ascertain whether the police force ever acquired 00 buckshots. According to him,Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic, Sergeant Jackson, firearm and ammunition examiner had made checks and found that within the last six to seven years the force had not stocked that type of ammunition. Jackson however said on Tuesday that he overheard from one of his superiors that 00 buckshots were not used after 2005. |
