WPC Bernadette James, seated in the middle of the bus, met her death, supposedly by someone firing a shot from outside the bus. Illustration: Keith Anderson
Just take a look at the illustration on this page. Woman Police Constable Bernadette James is sitting in the middle of a police bus.
The bus is filled with police officers on an anti-terrorist exercise at Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas, on October 2, 1987.
The bus is attacked by terrorists and in descending on the bus, shots were fired. Somehow, a live round mysteriously entered the chamber of a policeman’s gun outside the bus.
That live round reportedly went through the front glass of the bus, bypassed everyone sitting in the front of the vehicle, and struck James in her chest.
That live round, among a thousand blanks released for the exercise, pierced James’ chest and she died sometime later while undergoing treatment at the Seventh Day Adventist Hospital, Cocorite. She was so bad lucky that she was the only casualty that day.
WPC BERNADETTE JAMES
...mysteriously killed
DID BERNADETTE WITNESS SOMETHING?
During a recent discussion with Jamaat Al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr, the death of WPC James came up. Bakr is convinced that James was not accidentally killed, but murdered. Why?
He said that sometime before James died, she along with her husband and mother came to see him. “This woman was real frightened. She felt her life was in danger and she was scared. She believed that someone wanted to kill her and she wanted protection.”
Bakr did not go into details of the discussion he had with James, but the T&T Guardian learnt that the woman was on duty at Piarco International Airport when it is believed that she witnessed a deal with high-ranking government officials.
According to sources, James entered a room at Piarco and saw then Attorney General Selwyn Richardson and another official in a questionable transaction with other persons.
But as far as James was concerned, she saw nothing. The other persons did not think so, however, so they exerted pressure on her and her superiors to get rid of her.
Bakr said he felt concerned for James’ safety in light of what he was told. He said he went to the then Commissioner of Police Louis Jim Rodriguez seeking assistance, but it fell on deaf ears.
THE EXERCISE
James had gone to Tucker Valley, Chaguaramas, on October 2, 1987, with members of the Multi-Optional Police Section (MOPS) for an exercise involving the capturing of hostages.
The exercise was supposed to be the finale of a training stint for the elite squad. The then minister of National Security Herbert Atwell, Rodriguez and his deputy commissioners, Jules Bernard and Sampson Phillip, were invited, along with other dignitaries.
There were several demonstrations that day. In the first demonstration, there was an exercise involving captors and captives. There was a bus carrying several police officers, including James. They were the captors. The bus was stormed by members of another team, they were the captives.
The firearms to be used on that exercise should have carried blanks. During the attack, somehow James got shot while sitting in the middle of the bus. She was shot from a bullet discharged from a gun from a colleague who was reportedly outside the bus. She was rushed off to hospital on the orders of then Supt Gregory Mendez, who was in charge of MOPS.
The police searched for the shell of that live round which killed James, but to this day, it was never found.
That incident shook up the entire MOPS team. Several of James’ colleagues wept openly that day and in the months ahead. Several police officers were so traumatised from the events, that they left the service and migrated.
PC Gregory Pierre, whose conduct was called into question at the Coroner’s Inquest, also left the service and migrated. But he is back in Trinidad and is one of the senior security officials at the Prime Minister’s residence.
At the inquest, Pierre said the day before the events, he had placed his personal firearm, a Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol and an Uzi sub-machine gun in his kit bag at the Lucy Beadon Clinic, St James Barracks.
The following day, he returned to the Barracks and checked both firearms. They were clear of ammunition. At Chaguaramas that day, Pierre took his pistol from the bag and holstered it. He was provided with blank ammunition. The Uzi weapon was still in the bag.
Pierre was the driver of a vehicle which was to intercept the police bus. On the instructions of senior officer Michael Maxima, Pierre drove his vehicle along Covigne Road and blocked the bus. He alighted from the vehicle, drew his pistol and adopted the position he had practised.
Pierre then fired his pistol in the direction of the bus. As he was proceeding to his next position, he noticed that the windscreen of the bus was shattered. As he was taking out a captor from the bus, Pierre heard James cry out for her chest.
He ran into the bus and observed a small hole in James’ chest. She was placed in Pierre’s vehicle and rushed to the hospital. Pierre handed over his pistol to Maxima at the hospital. As a person trained in weaponry, Pierre was certain that he had fired blanks that day.
He told Coroner Melville Baird that anyone who handles arms and ammunition would know the difference between a blank round and a live round of ammunition.
Several of the persons on that exercise gave evidence before the Coroner. Because the shell was not recovered, it was impossible for one to determine whether that bullet was discharged from Pierre’s firearm.
Based on the testimony of the witnesses and what was presented to the court, Coroner Baird ruled that James was killed in circumstances that ruled out accident or misadventure.
“The court is of the opinion that there is ground for suspecting that some person is guilty of an indictable offence in the death of WPC James,” Baird ruled. But he was unable to reveal the identity of the person who discharged the fatal shot, and who should be charged with, and held responsible for that indictable offence.
In other words, Baird believed that someone, other than PC Pierre, was responsible for James’ death. He ordered that the file be sent back to the Commissioner of Police for further investigations. That was on September 2, 1992—16 years ago.
Nothing further has been done, no more investigations conducted, and James’ death remains an unsolved mystery.
http://legacy.guardian.co.tt/archive...-25/news1.html
