The prosecution is expected to rest its case today in the Coroner’s Inquest into the deaths of a prison guard and an inmate who were killed in January’s prison break, after hearing the testimony of a final witness.
Coroner Linda Virgill yesterday requested that Chief Inspector Milton Hanna be called to the stand on Thursday to clarify information pertaining to a firearm.
Inmates Barry Parcoi, Neil Brown, Corey Hepburn and Forrester Bowe escaped the Maximum Security wing of Her Majestyﾒs Prison on January 17.
Prison Corporal Dion Bowles and Brown, a condemned inmate, were killed during the prison break.
Over the past six weeks, the prosecution has called between 45 and 50 witnesses to the stand, including Prison Superintendent Dr. Elliston Rahming and Deputy Superintendent Charles Rolle; three of the former escapees; several of the inmates housed in the C-block of Maximum Security; prison officers who worked the night before and the morning of the prison break; and medical experts who treated Bowe and Parcoi and two injured prison officers.
Several witnesses were also recalled during the proceedings, such as Principal Officer Gregory Rolle, Sergeant Stephen Sands and officers Sandy Mackey and Raoul Sargent.
Yesterday, the officers accompanied the seven-member jury, Coroner Virgill, the prosecution, the attorneys of several key witnesses and members of the press on a visit to Her Majestyﾒs Prison and the Yamacraw Road area, to retrace the chain of events leading up to the capture and arrest of the prisoners.
Standing on opposite sides of a fence on the southwestern side of Maximum Security, PO Rolle demonstrated how he handed over his weapon to Officer Sargent on the morning of January 17.
Leading the procession out of the prison compound onto Yamacraw Road, Officer Sargent eventually pointed to a bushy area where he stumbled on Barry Parcoi.
This was the same location the prisoners were captured and arrested only moments after escaping.
Officer Sargeat also pointed out the location of the prison bus that was used to return the inmates to the Her Majestyﾒs Prison compound.
When asked to point out a location to jurors, Officer Mackey chose to remain silent, as his attorney Dion Smith was not present.
Mackey, who has been named as the officer who shot Brown after he was captured and placed on the prison bus, also took the same approach when he was recalled to the stand on Wednesday.
Coroner Virgill has cautioned Mackey that whatever he said will be used as evidence against him.
But despite the witnessﾒ decision to remain silent, the coroner pressed on with her line of questioning ﾖ “What type of gun did you receive from Neko (Raoul) Sargent? Did you shoot Neil Brown? Was he shot in the bus while handcuffed or was he shot in the bushes?”
Called to the witness stand for a third time was Sergeant Herman Major, who left work at 4 oﾒclock on the morning of the escape, two hours before his shift ended. In his place, he left Sergeant Stephen Sands.
Major has maintained throughout his testimony that he received permission to leave early from his superior PO Rolle, who insists otherwise.
According to Major, on the morning of the escape he had two appointments ﾖ one at Commonwealth Bank, Cable Beach at 8:30am, the other at the Princess Margaret Hospital.
“My doctor told me to get some rest before I did my tests at the lab that morning,” he explained. “ﾅBut because of the situation at the prison, I never kept those appointments.”
Major also insisted that he had little choice but to leave Sgt. Sands in charge of the “high security area,” as there was no other person available.
“But why did you put your appointments so early in the morning and not in the afternoon, knowing that you are a prison officer and that you work in a high security area,” Coroner Virgill asked.
Sgt. Major said that these were the appointment times he was given.
The inquest continues today at 10am.
By: Macushla N. Pinder, The Bahama Journal
