Though set to commence on Tuesday, the Preliminary Inquiry (PI) into the murder charge against Police Constable Kristoff De Nobrega, who is accused of fatally shooting a father of one, did not proceed as the prosecution is still to disclose further evidence to the defence.
Consequently, the matter has been put off until next Wednesday, February 22, when the prosecutor is expected to lay over further evidence it intends to rely on to prove its case.
This matter is being presided over by Magistrate Fabayo Azore at the Vigilance Magistrate’s Court. The now interdicted De Nobrega is attached to the Police Force’s Special Branch Unit.
The accused, 22, who is being represented by Attorney-at-Law Bernard Da Silva, is accused of the June 10, 2022 murder of Quindon Bacchus, a father of one, of Golden Grove, East Coast Demerara (ECD), who was fatally shot during a Police sting operation at Haslington, ECD.
It was reported that on the day in question, ranks were conducting an intelligence-led operation in the Haslington New Scheme, after receiving some information earlier in the day. The ranks went to Bacchus’s home, where he was seen with a firearm in his possession. He had reportedly intended to sell the illegal firearm to the ranks. The plainclothes rank De Nobrega, who was armed, had made arrangements to purchase the firearm from Bacchus.
In the process of handing over the firearm to the rank, an alarm was raised and Bacchus reportedly ran away from the ranks. A chase ensued, during which Bacchus reportedly shot at the ranks, who returned fire, shooting him several times about his body.
Police said that Bacchus was picked up in a conscious state, and escorted to the Georgetown Public Hospital, where he was medically attended to but subsequently died.
Police Headquarters had said that a .380 pistol with a magazine that contained one round and a .380 spent shell and two 9mm spent shells were recovered at the scene.
The incident was investigated by the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), which had recommended that the Police rank and two of his colleagues be charged, a decision that was endorsed by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Shalimar Ali-Hack, SC.
Meanwhile, Police Lance Corporal Thurston Simon and Police Sergeant Dameion Mc Lennon have been charged with attempting to obstruct the course of justice, for allegedly giving false information to investigators probing Bacchus’s death.
Sergeant Mc Lennon, 35, of Lot 175 ‘B’ Field, South Sophia, Greater Georgetown, who was initially remanded to prison by a Magistrate, was in August 2022 granted $250,000 bail by a High Court Judge. It is unclear whether Lance Corporal Simon, 24, of Bareroot, ECD was admitted to bail.
Following Bacchus’s death, violent protests had erupted at several ECD villages.
The protests led to several vendors at the Mon Repos Market being robbed, while their stalls were vandalised and goods looted.
Some of the ‘protesters’ who were armed with cutlasses, knives, iron bars, and other handy weapons, destroyed vendors’ goods, burnt stalls and vehicles, shattered windscreens of vehicles, and even terrorised vendors.
The vendors were compensated by the Government, and 16 men were arrested and charged with the offence of riotous behaviour. The Police, on Wednesday, issued wanted bulletins for 12 more persons accused of behaving in such a manner.
Threats were also made against President Dr Irfaan Ali’s life, which led to the arrest of a 35-year-old man of Golden Grove, ECD, Marvin Richmond, known as “Wakie”, a psychiatric patient.
