00:0028-year-old Municipal Police Constable Javon Cooper is facing four charges, including the murder of acting Corporal Anushka Eversley
00:08after instructions were issued by Director of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard to homicide investigators late last night.
00:15Cooper was also charged with robbery with violence, trafficking of firearms and possession of ammunition in connection with the incident
00:23at the San Fernando Municipal Police Station last Sunday that shook the nation and triggered a major criminal investigation.
00:30Cooper will likely appear in court later this week or early next week.
00:34Since then, 11 other suspects have been detained and 38 firearms, along with some 929 wrongs of ammunition, have been
00:43recovered.
00:43Sources said that some new suspects were held for questioning overnight.
00:48The Express reported exclusively online last night that DPP Gaspard gave the instructions to charge Cooper of La Sofitri's Cedar
00:56Hill, Claxton Bay, after more than six hours of consultations with officers of the Homicide Region 3 that included Superintendent
01:04Passard and Acton ASP Maharaj.
01:07Eversley 36 was found dead at the Kings Wharf Lady Hills Avenue station around 4.40 a.m. on Sunday
01:13after colleagues returned to the charge room area and discovered blood leading from her quarters.
01:18A subsequent check revealed her body lying motionless on a mattress.
01:22Commissioner of Police Alistair Guevara in a Trinidad and Tobago Police Service media release early this morning confirmed the charges
01:28to be laid against Cooper and warned that no one was above the law.
01:32He said, quote,
02:08For those who chose corruption and criminality, we will leave no stone unturned to remove you from among the officers
02:16who risk their lives daily to protect our citizens
02:20and place you instead among those who enjoy state-provided accommodation with reinforced burger-proofing and 24-hour security.
02:28The TTPS remains resolute in defending the integrity of the badge, close quote.
02:34The killing of Acting Corporal Eversley was described by the Commissioner as a shocking moment to the nation, particularly as
02:41it occurred within a police facility.
02:43The murder also coincided with the discovery that a huge quantity of firearms and ammunition had been removed from the
02:49station's strong room,
02:51which was described by investigators as a major security breach.
02:55ACP Surindra Sagram Singh, head of the Trinidad and Tobago Municipal Police Service,
03:00had said on Monday before he was sent on administrative leave yesterday by the Permanent Secretary of the Local Government
03:05Ministry
03:05that he believed that more than 100 guns were missing from the station's strong room
03:10in which some 4,000 rungs of ammunition were also taken.
03:14Mark Bessant, TV6 News.
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