The State’s main witness in the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder trial was sent for a psychiatric evaluation while he was assisting investigators in the murder investigation. This was revealed yesterday as defence attorneys in the trial of 12 men accused of murdering the Xtra Foods CEO questioned acting Insp Suzette Martin, who was the main police officer to interact with the witness Keon Gloster over two months in 2007.
Defence attorney Mario Merritt, who is representing three of the accused, referred extensively to the report which was prepared by psychiatrist Prof Gerard Hutchinson on July 22, that year, as he raised issues regarding Gloster’s mental state at the time. Merritt claimed that although police were told that Gloster’s epilepsy medication had side effects which included hallucinations, psychosis and amnesia, they still opted to record statements from him.
The attorney referred to Hutchinson’s warning about Gloster’s predisposition to becoming highly distressed in enclosed spaces as he stated that he (Gloster) was kept in a small, unventilated cell in a police station. He also questioned Gloster’s ability to give police the statements during three-hour-long uninterrupted sessions, as Hutchinson had noted he (Gloster) had an unusually short attention span.
Although Martin said she could not comment on Hutchinson’s findings, she said that Gloster did not display any of the symptoms identified by Merritt during her interactions with him. Naipaul-Coolman, 52, was kidnapped from her home at Lange Park, Chaguanas, on December 19, 2006. A $122,000 ransom was paid by her family, but she was not released and her body was never found.
State prosecutors in the trial before Justice Malcolm Holdip have contended that she was held captive in a house in Upper La Puerta, Diego Martin, which was shared by three of the accused and frequented by the others, who lived close by. Gloster, who also lived in the community and is related to several of the accused men, was 17 at the time. He is expected to testify later in the trial after most of the State’s 74 witnesses, who are mostly police officers, complete their evidence.
Merritt is expected to continue his cross-examination when the trial resumes next Monday.
WHO’S IN COURT
The 12 men before the jury and Justice Malcolm Holdip are Allan “Scanny” Martin, twin brothers Shervon and Devon Peters, siblings Keida and Jamille Garcia and their older brother Anthony Dwayne Gloster, brothers Marlon and Earl Trimmingham, Ronald Armstrong, Antonio Charles, Joel Fraser and Lyndon James. A 13th man, Raphael Williams, was charged with the crime but died in prison in 2011 of complications arising from sickle cell anaemia.
Legal team
The legal team includes Ulric Skerritt, Joseph Pantor, Selwyn Mohammed, Lennox Sankersingh, Ian Brooks, Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, Richard Valere, Kwesi Bekoe, Colin Selvon, Vince Charles, Christian Chandler, Delicia Helwig and Alexia Romero. The prosecution team includes Senior Counsel Israel Khan and Gilbert Peterson who are being assisted by senior state prosecutors Joy Balkaran and Kelly Thompson.