Hamilton
Gas Station killing
Crime Chief denies
giving attorney permission to remove tape
Crime Chief, Leon Trim, has denied a claim by
attorney-at-law Nigel Hughes that he was
the officer at the Criminal Investigation
Department (CID) who gave permission for Hughes
to keep the surveillance tape from the Hamilton
Gas Station.
Leon Trim
Nigel Hughes
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Controversy has built over the propriety of
Hughes, the President of the Guyana Bar
Association, removing the tape from the gas
station where Brian Hamilton was shot and killed
on March 21.
In response to the concerns, the lawyer, who
said he was not commenting on the
appropriateness of him removing the tape, said
that he was given permission from the officer at
the crime scene and a senior officer at CID.
However, the police then issued a release
stating that the senior police officer at the
crime scene denied having granted Hughes
permission and all senior officers at CID
Headquarters also denied Hughes had spoken to
them that afternoon.
The release had stated that the senior police
officer at the crime scene had told Hughes that
he needed the tape and asked for it, but the
lawyer refused to hand over the tape, saying
that he could not give it to him immediately and
indicated that he would hand it over to the
police at Vigilance on his return, sometime
later in the afternoon.
But in a subsequent release and letter, Hughes
stated that after the tape was ejected from the
recorder he made a request to the officer for
copies to be made and he was given permission.
“Permission was given by the officer in charge
to make copies of the tape and to deliver them
to the police.”
Hughes said he had telephoned Trim and had
spoken on several issues including the delivery
of a copy of the tape to CID at Police
Headquarters the following day, instead of at
Cove & John Police Station.
He said Trim had told him that he would be
expecting the tape the following morning.
However, contacted yesterday Trim said that
Hughes had never spoken to him about any tape.
He told Stabroek News that when the lawyer
contacted him he spoke to him about Hamilton’s
body being placed in a body bag and he had
denied the request stating that the police
relied on the integrity of the funeral parlour.
He said it was later that he learnt from the
force that Hughes had the tape and he made
several calls to Hughes’ office but could not
contact him and as such he left several
messages.
Trim said that Hughes only spoke to him on the
Monday morning informing him that he was
bringing in the tape which he did later.
In his release Hughes said that the Saturday
after the incident he had visited Eve Leary but
was told that Trim was not there and he decided
not to leave the tape with a junior rank.
“I do not know the home numbers of police
officers, senior or other ranks. I returned to
CID Eve Leary on Monday the 24th day of March
2003 at 8:15 am and delivered a copy of the tape
to Mr Trim personally.”
The release further added that the tape was at
the service station for several hours after the
departure of the police without any request from
the police for delivery of the tape.
Friday April
17, 2003