Latest update April 7th, 2025 12:08 AM
Murdered cop’s colleagues cannot ID shooter
It’s now more than three weeks since the Director of Public Prosecutions Shalimar Ali-Hack ordered the withdrawal of a murder charge against a man whom police said was a prime suspect in the killing of Police Corporal Romain Cleto. Now, from all indications the case appears to be at a standstill.
The main reason for the withdrawal of the charge was the question of identity, although investigators had compiled an “impressive list” of witnesses, some of whom gave descriptions of the killer.
Police Corporal Romain Cleto
Now, even the dead cop’s colleagues who were with him on that fateful night of April 27 last, are claiming that they cannot positively identify the suspects.
This was revealed to this newspaper by a source close to the investigations.
The revelation will certainly dash the hopes of Cleto’s parents who were hoping that the other ranks who were with him when he was gunned down would be able to provide vital information that would lead to the apprehension and successful prosecution of the killer.
David Kendall, the father of the murdered Policeman was convinced that his late son’s colleagues held the key to the real identity of the killer(s).
He had voiced this opinion hours after Shaka Chase, the man who police had charged with Cleto’s murder was set free by a magistrate following the withdrawal of the charge by the Director of Public Prosecutions.
“Well, as far as I concern, the colleagues who were with him, his fellow policemen, they have something to say because they are alive.
The driver is alive, the other guy who get hit, they have something to say,” Kendall had told this newspaper.
Investigators appear to have relied heavily on a statement obtained from a woman who subsequently revealed that she had been tortured to sign a document in which she identified Shaka Chase as one of the persons in the car that the killers were using at the time of the shooting.
Romain Cleto was gunned down on April 27, last, in full view of dozens of persons who were assembled near the Plaisance Bus Park.
The DPP had found several discrepancies in the police investigations, especially when it came to the identity of the killer. An alleged eyewitness had described the shooter as a fair-skinned mixed race individual as against a dark-skinned man with dreadlocks.
According to the source, the police even relied on a statement from a man who claimed that he could have identified the killer although he was quite some distance away.
“The police have to do much more investigations in this matter but from the look of things, this one is also heading to the cold case files,” the source said.
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