The inquest is being held in an effort to determine the circumstances surrounding the death of prison officer, Corporal Dion Bowles, and murder convict Neil Brown, who were killed during an escape from the prison in January.
Corporal Rubini Strachan made that admission when Coroner Linda Virgill questioned why he did not stop at the office of the Principal Officer (PO) upon learning that an escape was in progress during the wee hours of Tuesday, January 17.
“Then and there, I thought the best thing to do was to capture the person(s),” he said. “I never spoke to the PO that morning because all of us were reacting on instinct. We’ve never been in a situation like this before.”
Corporal Strachan said the prison did not have a plan in place to deal with such a situation.
“I was never trained properly to react and so I just reacted,” he said while also admitting that he never asked for proper training.
Corporal Strachan was working the 10pm to 6am shift along with at least two other officers when the prison break occurred. The officers were assigned to the southern group.
Also working the late night shift that night was Officer Lincoln Lightbourne, who told the court that he was speaking to Corporal Strachan when a couple of minutes into their conversation, he heard a dragging sound.
He said upon looking out of the main door of the southern part of Maximum Security, he saw two inmates on the roof at which point he asked the Corporal to call the control room.
Officer Lightbourne further testified that as he and Corporal Strachan walked towards the west, he heard four gunshots.
He said they later learnt that officer David Armbrister had been stabbed.
“Someone told us who had escaped. I told them if Barry (Parcoi) had escaped, Ellison (Smith) must have too.”
When questioned why he had drawn such a conclusion, he explained that just after passing out as a prison officer 4 1/2 years ago, he saw one of the inmates working the cleaning gang trying to pass a hacksaw blade in a newspaper from Parcoi to Smith.
“I reported the incident to the sergeant in charge of the west, but the case was never called-They never did anything,” Officer Lightbourne said.
At least two prison officers have testified that in addition to the bars of the cells occupied by Parcoi, Forrester Bowe, Corey Hepburn and Neil Brown being cut, Smith’s cell bars were cut as well and there was an attempt to cut cell 9, occupied by Trono Davis.
Officer Lightbourne however dismissed the suggestion that Parcoi and Smith may have been trying to cut the cells bars for years.
Jurors also heard that before completing his shift that Tuesday morning, the witness saw three inmates sitting in the back of the prison’s bus with an officer standing in front of them pointing a shotgun.
He said at the time, “just a piece” of the back glass of the vehicle was in place.
Officer Lightbourne said he immediately identified Parcoi and eventually learnt that the other man was Bowe.
“I could not say whether the three prisoners were alive,” he said when questioned by a juror. “I was looking through the window and so I could only see his legs. I know there were six legs.”
He added that at the time, Parcoi was saying: “Y’all don’t beat me. I ga talk.”
Jurors also heard testimony on Monday from Theodore Mott, the officer who reportedly fired four shots at the time of the daring escape.
Officer Mott told the court that he was walking towards the west around 4am when he heard what sounded like tennis rubbing against a wall.
A prison guard for only nine months, Officer Mott said he next heard what seemed to be chairs dragging from the upper area of Maximum Security.
“I took out my radio and called control when I saw a person on the roof,” he said.
“I discharged my weapon as a warning, but they ran to the opposite side of the roof where I could not see them. I ran to the south side where I saw an inmate jumping over the last perimeter fence attempting to climb over. I discharged my weapon again but the inmates continued running. I discharged a third round and as I looked around I saw two more inmates, one with a black bag heading towards the fence.”
Officer Mott, who reported received a passing mark during his one-week firearm training, said he discharged his weapon the final time when the two last inmates were attempting to climb over the last perimeter fence.
“Both fell,” he said. “They got up and continued but their pace was slower. I cannot say if they were hit directly, but based on their change of pace-As they got over, one of the inmates fell a second time; the other helped him up and they continued walking at a brisk pace.”
He also testified that while he was present when the bus returned with the prisoners, he never saw the inmates.
The officer also told the court that since the incident he received counseling for the first time last Monday.
In his testimony, officer Irvin Bodie, one of the officers who discovered Corporal Dion Bowles’ lifeless body, told jurors both officers, Sweeting and Armbrister, who were injured during the melee, walked into the PO office.
There were no ropes on their feet, he said.
“I could not say whether ropes were on their hands, but no one was hopping-They had no problem walking to PO’s office,” he said, contradicting Officer Sweeting’s testimony on Friday.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
