“One of the clearest examples of abuse of police power…”

That is how the Police Complaints Authority described its recently concluded investigation into the shooting death of PC Clarence Gilkes in Richplain, Diego Martin on 22nd April, which found that members of the TTPS abused their power and deliberately mislead the Acting Commissioner of Police.

PC Gilkes, who had 11 years in the service at the time of his death, was shot in the back of the head during a police exercise.

“The scientific evidence gathered by the PCA clearly demonstrates PC Gilkes was fatally shot by one of his fellow officers. The evidence revealed that officers of the TTPS shot at an unarmed civilian and, unfortunately, PC Clarence Gilkes became an unintended target,” the PCA revealed in a statement on Thursday morning.

It noted the team of officers at the scene mislead Acting Police Commissioner McDonald Jacob.

“…Before this evidence (aforementioned) became apparent, the police officers informed the Ag. CoP that an unarmed civilian would have shot PC Gilkes, which led to his death, and caused the police service to launch a manhunt in order to ‘deal with the persons responsible for this act.’”

At the time of the incident in April, before autopsy results confirmed Gilkes was shot in the back of the head, Mr. Jacob refuted claims by Richplain residents that PC Gilkes was shot by another officer.

The PCA says it has made recommendations to both the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the office of the Ag Commissioner of Police.