Bandits kill cop

By RHONDOR DOWLAT

POLICE Constable, Casrajh Man-singh, 49, attached to the Chaguanas Police Station was on Friday night responding to a robbery in progress at a guest house and bar in Chaguanas when he was shot dead by bandits. Another officer, WPC Pearl Gomez was also shot and wounded. Mansingh was the second police officer for the year to be killed while in the line of duty. The first, PC Omar Marajah of the then Piarco Police Station, was on May 6 shot in his hip and then burnt to death while sitting in a police car. Two bandits were shot dead by officers during the exchange of gunfire, another escaped on foot. It was reported that Marajah along with a party of police officers responded to a robbery in progress at a warehouse when the incident took place.

It was of similar nature on Friday, at about 10 pm, according to a police report, when Mansingh, along with WPC Gomez of Mamoral and PC Anthony Purcell of Cunupia responded to a robbery at the Swamber's Inn and Jackie's Bar, Enterprise Village, Chaguanas. The business place is owned by Frank and Zorina Swamber. The report stated that Zorina Swamber was upstairs the business place when she heard a strange noise coming from the ground floor, in the vicinity of the bar. She attempted to call the receptionist via the intercom, the report added, but got no reponse. The police report stated that Swamber called the Chaguanas Police Station to report suspicious activity in the bar and pleaded with them to check it out.

Mansingh, Gomez and Purcell, the report stated, were on patrol in the area when they received the message from the police command centre. Moments after arriving at the bar, the report stated, Gomez and Purcell entered while Mansingh went around the building to the reception area of the guest house. The report stated that Swamber came downstairs, to the outside of the building to meet Mansingh. The duo, the report stated, was standing in the yard, just outside the door to the guest house's reception area when the bandits pushed it open in a bid to escape. Mansingh, the report stated, who carried no gun and wore no bulletproof vest, was confronted by the bandits, who began firing shots. Mansingh, the report added, was shot four times in the chest.

The report stated that Swamber was also shot at by the bandits but managed to escape uninjured. Gomez, upon hearing the gunshots, the report stated, headed toward the direction from which the loud explosions were heard. There, the report stated, she was confronted by one of the bandits who shot her. She was shot in her lower back. The bandits reportedly escaped on foot and up to late yesterday remained at large. Police have since launched a nationwide manhunt, consisting of both aerial and land searches, for the men. A 21-year-old eyewitness, who wished not to be identified, yesterday told Sunday Newsday that he saw when the bandits pushed open the door. "First I saw the guns peeping out from behind the door, then I saw the men. One of the bandits turned toward the officer and shot him four times. I saw the policeman dropped to the ground," the witness stated.

Police reports indicated that Mansingh died instantly. Mansingh and Gomez were both rushed to the Chaguanas Health Facility. Mansingh was pronounced dead upon arrival, while Gomez was treated and transferred to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital where she was warded in a stable condition. Gomez was reportedly discharged from hospital around midday yesterday. Mansingh's body was ordered to the Forensic Science Centre, where an autopsy will be performed tomorrow. Mansingh's wife of 23 years, Chandra, a victim of rheumatoid arthritis, who moves around with the help of a pair of crutches was seen yesterday sitting in her rocking chair mourning her husband's untimely death. The couple had no children together.
"Oh God, they should not have shoot my husband. He did not deserve to die like that," she screamed.

She told Sunday Newsday that when she first got the news that something had happened to her husband she did not think that it was serious, "I did not know that it was this. I asked the police what it was but they said nothing to me. When I went to the health centre I saw his lifeless body and then that was it." Mansingh, according to his wife, would have turned 50 years on Tuesday and had planned a grand prayer meeting to celebrate. She described her husband as a dedicated and loving husband. "He loved his work with all his heart and I am sure that he did not mind dying while in the line of duty. That is how much he was committed to it," she said. Colleagues of Mansingh, yesterday ex-pressed their sympathy to his wife and her family but expressed outrage at the Police Service.

Police officers claimed that they lack guns and bulletproof vests. They told Sunday Newsday that they believe that if the station was properly equipped with protective gear and arms that Mansingh's death could have been avoided. "But, it is too late now, we have lost a very good policeman and it is left up to the higher authorities to ensure that each officer has a gun and a bulletproof vest. We surely don't want this incident to repeat itself," a police officer said. Snr Supt Barnett Meyers and Insp Stephen Ramsubhag of the Central Division are heading investigations.

http://www.newsday.co.tt/stories.php?article_id=30882