{"id":12604,"date":"2018-02-18T08:58:49","date_gmt":"2018-02-18T12:58:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/?p=12604"},"modified":"2018-02-19T21:30:55","modified_gmt":"2018-02-20T01:30:55","slug":"guest-column-delano-forbes-flight-to-liberty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/guest-column-delano-forbes-flight-to-liberty\/","title":{"rendered":"GUEST COLUMN: Delano Forbes – flight to liberty"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By\u00a0RAWLSTON POMPEY<\/p>

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From that which was well-known among the law enforcement community, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of most Police Services, particularly, those within the British Commonwealth are staffed with some of the most \u2018…professionally well-trained men and women. They are highly intelligent, smart and quick-witted.\u2019 Given their expertise and investigative skills, they are referred to as the \u2018…Cr\u00e8me -De-La- Cr\u00e8me\u2019 of the Department. Whether or not sitting behind office desks conducting interviews or on the field investigating, personal appearance matters. Thus, personnel are usually smartly attired in civilian clothing. Before the Magistracy, Judges and Juries, they are properly attired, with males adorned in jackets and ties, while their female counterparts are exquisitely dressed in the finest of women apparel. Competency, however, is not about \u2018…personality appearances and halo effect of attire.\u2019 These were never known to enhance \u2018…intelligence; …smartness and professional adeptness.\u2019<\/p>\n

SPECULATIONS
\nEvery once in a while law enforcement comes under public scrutiny. They are mirrored through the media and are given widespread coverage, resulting in negative publicity, for actions or inactions that are, invariably mired in controversy or \u2018…Rife with Speculations.\u2019 There are usually demands for answers and explanations and decisive actions against those who may have breached public trust, or appeared careless or negligent in discharging their official duties. When there were no answers or answers starved for truthfulness, they often had provoked angst, while generating intense and heated public discussions. These, undoubtedly, have been the situation, following the \u2018\u2019\u2019Miraculous Escape\u2019 of self-confessed triple-murder accused Delano Forbes 23 [February 12, 2018]. Where family-connections were known, this had angered residents of the \u2018…Swetes and Parham communities,\u2019 saturating their poor little hearts with fear, anxiety and uneasiness.<\/p>

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FLIGHT TO LIBERTY
\nWhether judiciously or injudiciously described as a \u2018…blood-drinking human vampire and serial killer,\u2019 when un-convicted, self-confessed triple-murder accused reportedly took \u2018…Flight To Liberty,\u2019 not only residents of Swetes and surrounding communities apprehended fear, but also members of the wider society. In the absence of Police Commissioner Wendell Robinson, then on \u2018…overseas official duties,\u2019 Deputy Commissioner of Police Atlee Rodney had found himself in one of the most awkward and unenviable positions of his career, having to deal with an unprecedented development of \u2018…monumental historical seriousness.\u2019 Given the description of the escapee, they themselves had good reasons to believe that public safety had been compromised.<\/p>

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MURDERED VICTIMS
\nResponding to public and ministerial concerns, the Deputy had bravely and honestly admitted to operational fallibilities, before issuing \u2018…armed and dangerous warnings to the populace\u2019 [ABS TV: February 13, 2018]. There are pending committal proceedings,\u2019 on charges that he had murdered three adult males, (i) \u2018…Lisue \u2018Dirty\u2019 Samuel [February 2017]; (ii) …Shawn Henry 41 [May 2017]; and (iii) …Wilfred \u2018Bongo\u2019 Williams 59 [December 11, 2017]. Though law enforcement had made no public announcement, a possible fourth victim was identified as a former Swetes resident \u2018…Caleb Samuel 72. The grotesque sight of his headless body was discovered in the Bendals Body Pond area [December 11, 2016]. Consequent upon these discoveries, Police authorities may have caused public alarm, demonizing the accused as a \u2018…Serial killer.\u2019 They had likened his blood-drinking appetite, to the \u2018…days of vampires\u2019 [Telesur: December 27, 2017]. He allegedly slit victim\u2019s throat, and savoring the taste of hot human blood, drank it like \u2018…Wadadli Rum Punch.\u2019<\/p>\n

GRAVE CONCERNS
\nThat which have always been \u2018…Grave Concerns\u2019 to criminal investigators are, \u2018…Evidence supporting fact in issue and evidence relevant to the fact in issue; that is to say, \u2018…the accused had murdered the three deceased.\u2019 The investigators were attempting to gather more of that which supplies proof- possible exhibits. They knew that \u2018…without more\u2019 to show to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) that there was evidence that showed \u2018…reasonable prospect of conviction of the accused for the grisly triple- murders.\u2019 The escape of the accused appeared not to have advanced the investigation or strengthen the case against him.<\/p>

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WANTED INTEREST
\nDelano Forbes was never a \u2018…Person of Wanted Interest\u2019 to investigators.\u2019 The vexatious security lapses and the irony of it, is that the \u2018…deadly triple-murder accused was securely confined at the Maximum Security Unit at Her Majesty\u2019s Prison,\u2019 pending committal proceedings [March 17, 2018]. The story of the accused \u2018…thirst for human blood\u2019 may have started when media reports quoted acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Everton Jeffers as saying \u2018…Two bottles of blood were found at his home.\u2019 Law enforcement had also described the triple-murder-accused as a \u2018…Serial killer.\u2019 This may also have galvanized public belief when police authorities further described him as being \u2018…vampiric\u2019 [Telesur: December 27, 2017]. At a subsequent Press conference, acting Deputy Commissioner of Police Everton Jeffers revealed that \u2018…After investigations that have led them to believe he was responsible for three unsolved killings,\u2019 the police had visited the accused\u2019 home where \u2018…two small bottles that appeared to be blood were found\u2019 [Observer Media: December 23, 2017]. Then ironically, he slipped away from their apparent \u2018…Unrestrained Custody,\u2019 thereby creating fear in the citizenry.<\/p>\n

ESCAPE PLAN
\nWhile investigators may have been silently singing \u2018…Escape on my mind\u2019 or even \u2018…Georgia always on my mind\u2019 [Ray Charles: 1978], the accused may also have been quietly saying \u2018…You Don\u2019t Know Me\u2019 [Ray Charles: 1962: You Tube]. Absconsion appeared to have been the farthest consideration from minds that may have been stressed from lethargy. Equally as much as the investigators wanted to retrieve the ‘…stashed blood’ not only that the accused wanted it for future consumption but also to escape from their company. Having completed \u2018…three months in solitary confinement on remand,\u2019 the accused would have had ample time to \u2018…conjure up a Houdini-like escape plan.\u2019 Investigators shall have had on their mind\u2018…Escape is on his mind.\u2019 Further, they appeared to have completely ignored the legal maxim, \u2018…No one is obliged to incriminate himself in criminal wrongdoing.\u2019 This has been firmly embedded in \u2018…British Jurisprudence\u2019 [Wikipedia], and the constitutional presumption that \u2018…A person charged with a criminal offence is innocent until proved guilty\u2019 [ANU: 1981: Section 15 (2)].<\/p>

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BEWARE OF SUBTERFUGE
\nIt has been the experience that people, whose liberty had been restrained, were always ready to inflict injuries to free themselves to make good their escape from custody. This has always been good reasons for prison authorities and police officers to take the necessary precautions. Seemingly ignoring the \u2018…Beware of Subterfuge\u2019 principle, the accused appeared to have employed an unsophisticated deceptive ploy, convincing investigators that he had \u2018…bottles of human blood stashed away in bushes surrounding his community.\u2019 He had induced in them a \u2018…false sense of belief\u2019 that retrieval of the \u2018…stashed bottles of blood and concealed articles,\u2019 would have strengthened the cases against him. Unsuspecting of a getaway ploy, optimistically overwhelmed, they had fallen victims to susceptibility. Commissioner of Police Wendell Robinson may very well substitute these words \u2018…unprecedented stupidity.\u2019 Among the first training lessons is a caution that states, \u2018…Beware of Subterfuge\u2019 (trick\/deception). Personal safety and prisoner control are dependent upon this caution.<\/p>

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FLEEING FROM JUSTICE
\nTherefore, in dealing with high and low-risk suspects, personnel have been instructed, with constant on-the-job reminders that in conjuring-up schemes, there is but one objective \u2018…Escape from Custody,\u2019 and one clear possibility \u2018…inflicting injuries in resisting arrest.\u2019 Personnel are forewarned that since criminal suspects value their liberties, it is never outside their thoughts to \u2018…Flee from Justice.\u2019 It has been for these reasons that at first instance contact,\u2019 criminal suspects shall be physically and thoroughly searched for concealed weapons, and be partially subdued by applying \u2018…hand and foot-cuffs.\u2019 Overly optimistic, if not showing naivety in believing that the \u2018…triple-murder-accused would have further incriminated himself in the grisly murders,\u2019 investigators had clearly divested themselves of their \u2018…professional sense of judgment.\u2019<\/p>\n

SINGLE FILE TRAIL
\nNot knowing where they were going, the murder-accused, on reasonably suspected prompts, may have volunteered to show investigators where \u2018…bottles of blood were self-stashed.\u2019 They had not the slightest inkling they were being hoodwinked into facilitating his escape from their custody. Thus, with fox-like cunningness, he reportedly led five criminal investigators on a \u2018…Single-file bushy Trail\u2019 and terrain that were unfamiliar to them.\u2019 The murder-accused reportedly led the smartly attired investigators through a narrow and difficult footpath, that for ease of access, would have necessitated removal of \u2018…foot-restraint mechanisms,\u2019 (if any). This, undoubtedly, allowed for dexterity, and with \u2018…lightning-fast Usain Bolt-like athletic sprint,\u2019 took a jumping flight, witnessed only by startled investigators.<\/p>\n

CONTROLLED EMOTIONS
\nInvestigators saw no unusual mannerism and harbored no feelings of trickery. It was apparent that all it had taken triple-murder-accused Delano Forbes in making his escape, were (i) \u2018…Simplistic deception; (ii) …Voluntary cooperation; (iii) …Controlled Emotions; and (iv) …Restrained aggression.\u2019 Likened to the investigators, he too had an objective. Thus, achievement was contingent upon \u2018…compliance and obedience.\u2019 He apparently complied with every request made, and obeyed every instruction given. Unlike world-renowned social commentator Slinger Francisco \u2018Mighty Sparrow\u2019s confrontation with \u2018…10 vicious men,\u2019 with \u2018…4 armed investigators to 1 unarmed accused,\u2019 offering resistance may also have been suicidal. The difference in Sparrow\u2019s experience, and luckily for him when \u2018…Bottle and stone pelting and no place to shelter,\u2019 he suddenly heard \u2018…Podow Pow and man start to scatter.\u2019 He was the only man who remained at the scene, suggesting that he was the one who fired the gun; forcing the 10 vicious men to run\u2019 [Ten to One is Murder: 1961: You Tube]. In this case, it was the accused that ran from non-violent investigators.<\/p>\n

OPERATIONAL LAPSES
\nOrganizationally, there are those who shall lead and those who follow. Hierarchically, the \u2018…inferior follows the superior.\u2019 Then once in a while, both leader and follower are \u2018…deceptively led down slippery slopes to destruction.\u2019 At all material times and at all crime scenes,\u2019 among the primary objectives of investigators have been, (i) \u2018…martialling facts with potential probative or evidential value. These may be scientific or otherwise. Then there is (ii) …gathering clues that may go towards the establishment of a \u2018…nexus between the accused\/suspects and the crime.\u2019 The investigators are not only aware of possible \u2018…confrontations with extremely dangerous situations,\u2019 but also a population of criminals that are not only \u2018…cunning and opportunistically exploitative, but also very dangerous and deadly. These criminal suspects have always kept themselves alert to seize and capitalize on opportunities or exploit \u2018…Serious Operational Lapses\u2019 in the approved mode in securing prisoners.<\/p>\n

POSITIONAL STRATEGIES
\nIt was not clear what \u2018…Positional Strategies\u2019 may have been employed. Concerning \u2018…Visitations to Crime Scenes\u2019 with accused persons, the strategically-inclined investigator would have considered positioning personnel for one purpose only; preventing escape of an accused. In the apparent desperate attempt to gather additional evidence, the escapee had led investigators through dense forestry and rugged terrain, where travel is difficult. Thus, walking abreast was often restricted to a \u2018…single file\u2019 (single line). Leading at the front, this was the ideal position for a \u2018…High Jump.\u2019 Whatever restraints (if any), showing dexterity, agility and athleticism, investigators appeared to have been completely out-foxed by the 23 year-old accused. Whether or not hands and feet were in restraint, traversing through densely-populated bushes as to have successfully regained his liberty, a senior law enforcement officer remarked, and \u2018…he deserved to be at the Olympics.\u2019<\/p>\n

WHERE IS THE BLOOD?
\nWhatever may have given the lead investigator reasons to believe that triple-murder accused Delano Forbes could have been of further investigative assistance to them, the exercise had proved professionally embarrassing and disastrously futile. When he reportedly took the mystified jump at a densely shrub-populated embankment, he had successfully relieved himself of the \u2018…collective custody of four males, among them two Crime Scenes Investigators (CSI) and a female investigator.\u2019 While the jump may have been capable of being described as cunningly daring, considering its seriousness, it speaks to unbelievably \u2018…grave procedural glitches.\u2019 On the trek through the bushes, before investigators could ask \u2018…Where is the blood?\u2019 he had jumped from their custody down a twenty-five foot embankment and mysteriously disappeared from view. This also speaks to the need for \u2018…operational strategies; …agility and dexterity,\u2019 in the event of hot pursuit.<\/p>\n

MINISTERIAL DISPLEASURE
\nExpressing grave concern over the escape, Attorney General, Police and Public Safety Minister, Steadroy \u2018Cutie Benjamin appeared to have been provoked into reading the \u2018…Riot Act\u2019 to the Police high command. He had demanded answers, while indirectly suggesting that decisive action ought to be initiated against personnel for culpable neglect. He had described the escape as, (i) \u2018…tremendous lack of judgement\u2019 [ANR: February 15, 2018] and (ii) …gross neglect of duty\u2019 [OMG: February 16, 2018]. However, while authorities may express \u2018…Displeasure,\u2019 these are not determinations for Ministers of Government, but are solely within the remit of the Commissioner of Police. This has been settled law, [R v Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Blackburn ex parte\u2019 [1 AER: 763: 1968]. While tough Commissioners do not necessarily wilt under pressure, even without water, it is that which \u2018…frequently burst the APUA\u2019s pipe lines.<\/p>\n

CARELESSNESS\/NEGLIGENCE
\nIt was no coincidence that the two governmental services that speaks to criminal liability and disciplinary actions are the \u2018…Prison and Police Services.\u2019 There are prescribed consequences for \u2018…Carelessness or Negligence.\u2019 The Police \u2018…arrest or detain and prosecute,\u2019 while Prison authorities when so commanded by the Courts by \u2018…Committal, Remand or Conviction Warrants,\u2019 shall keep in safe legal confinement or custody those so remanded pending trial or committal proceedings. Therefore, if for these reasons, \u2018…legally confined or lawfully detained or remanded prisoners\u2019 are allowed to escape from those charged with their custody, the custodian may be criminally prosecuted or disciplinarily dealt with according to law.<\/p>\n

DERELICTION OF DUTY
\nIn the Prison and Police Acts, the mischief aimed by Parliament is simply to ensure that there is no \u2018…Dereliction of Duty,\u2019 whether through carelessness or negligence. The provisions contained in the Prison Act unambiguously states, \u2018…Every person having the custody of a prisoner, who shall knowingly or willfully allow him to escape, shall be liable to be imprisoned… for any term not exceeding two years;\u2019 while that contained in the latter, states, \u2018…If a member of the Force by carelessness or neglect permits a prisoner to escape\u2019 [Chapter 341: Section 20 & Police Act [Chapter330: Section 6(d) (iv)]. Law enforcement personnel may face penalties from a gentle \u2018…Caution\/Reprimand to Reduction in rank to Dismissal\u2019 [Vol. 12: Chapter 330: Section 11]. Considerations to applicable punishment, is dependent upon gravity of the dereliction.<\/p>\n

PRESUMPTION OF KNOWLEDGE
\nIn these provisions there are \u2018…Presumption of Knowledge\u2019 that those from whom a prisoner had escaped their custody, \u2018…knowingly or willfully permit him to escape such custody.\u2019 Given this presumption, evidence must show that the custodian had taken every precaution or had been overpowered and rendered incapable of preventing his escape. Following the escape of Delano Forbes, this had reportedly left the quiet sleepy Swetes community of an estimated residential population of some 2000 residents (1, 849 in 2012) [Wikipedia], as a virtual \u2018…Ghost Town.\u2019 Reports suggested that residents had been forced under lockdown, thereby imposing upon themselves, a \u2018…dusk to dawn curfew.\u2019 While such may have been the case, it was the \u2018…elusive murder-accused\u2019 who had induced fear in the residents. Many residents were said to have become mortally afraid that the \u2018…blood-drinking human vampire and Serial killer,\u2019 may come hunting for the blood of the innocent.<\/p>\n

DANGEROUSLY-AT-LARGE
\nIn the instant case, even with \u2018…hands and feet securely or insecurely cuffed,\u2019 it may still prove extremely difficult for any custodian to negate suggestions of \u2018…carelessness or negligence.\u2019 In the frightening development, the custodians would have been considered \u2018…grossly reckless\u2019 not to have anticipated that the murder-accused would have attempted to take flight from their custody.\u2019 That which appears more disconcerting, is that the accused has not only remained \u2018…Dangerously at-Large,\u2019 but also seemed to have been able to elude and\/or avoid the intensified re-capturing efforts of the Security forces. On the day of his mindboggling escape, many residents had reportedly sojourned elsewhere. Many had secured themselves, for fear that the suspected \u2018…human vampire,\u2019 without screening, may randomly attack victims for their blood, while in the process, snuffing out innocent lives.<\/p>\n

ELICITED CONFESSIONS
\nReasonable inferences may have been drawn that the investigating team were seeking to reduce prosecutorial reliance only on the \u2018…Elicited Confessions\u2019 from murder accused Delano Forbes. These Confessions have often been the subject of \u2018…Voir Dire\u2019 (trial within a trial). They are held when accused persons either denied contents or made allegations, inter alia, \u2018…offered hope of advantage; …influence; …use of force or threat of it.\u2019 Even so, it still begs the questions (i) \u2018…What led investigators to believe that after three months on remand, he would have further incriminated himself in crimes already pending Committal proceedings?\u2019(ii) …What compelling reasons informed the decision to seek the issuance of a \u2018Warrant of Deliverance\u2019 for his removal from the secure facility of Her Majesty\u2019s Prison?\u2019<\/p>\n

PROSPECT OF CONVICTION
\nIn his prosecutorial capacity, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Anthony Armstrong has always advised investigators that there shall always be the \u2018…Prospect of Conviction.\u2019 Ignoring such advice, \u2018…investigator\u2019s zeal and public and official pressures\u2019 had often led to prosecutorial failings. Many cases had failed to go beyond the threshold of \u2018…sufficiency of evidence.\u2019 In the instant case, compounding investigators efforts, that which had been initially suspected to be \u2018…human blood,\u2019 remains pending forensic laboratory analyses. While such analyses may determine whether or not the \u2018…suspect blood\u2019 is that of humans, it must also show that it \u2018…matches the blood types of the murdered victims.\u2019 Not only, would it provide the \u2018…nexus between the accused and the crime,\u2019 but also its probative value is most critical to \u2018…prosecutorial success.\u2019<\/p>\n

CONCLUSION
\nAttempts at \u2018…retrieving possible stashed-exhibits\u2019 have always been part of criminal investigations. Whether or not they would have advanced the case as \u2018…prima facie evidence\u2019 were to be left to the \u2018…considerations of investigators and prosecutors, and determinations of adjudicators.\u2019 That which shall be clearly understood, is that when persons appeared before the Courts,\u2019 it is for one purpose only, \u2018…Trial or Committal proceedings. It is never for police investigation or continuance thereof. Escape from Prison facilities and Police Custody, not only has implications for citizen\u2019s \u2018…Safety and Protection,\u2019 but also consequences to those charged with their custody. Whether on conviction or remand, confinement are usually ordered for Court determined periods. In the case of remand, this is for the limited first instance period of seven days. It may be extended weekly for \u2018…seven days,\u2019 if cases remain pending trial, or accused is unable to meet that which might reasonably be considered \u2018…excessive bail conditions\u2019 [ANU: CO: Section 5 (4)]. While announcement of \u2018…an internal probe\u2019 was said to be underway; much more than \u2018…Press Releases and television appearances\u2019 would be required to (i) …to eliminate anxieties, uncertainties and fear from an expressively-disappointed public; (ii) …address waning public confidence; (iii) …show capacity in securing dangerous criminals; (iv) …eliminate suspicion and distrust; and (v) …continue to strive in forging stronger citizenry\/police links.\u2019 These not only augurs well for continued citizen\u2019s support and cooperation, but also \u2018…good public and community relations.\u2019 ***<\/p>\n

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By\u00a0RAWLSTON POMPEY From that which was well-known among the law enforcement community, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of most Police Services, particularly, those within the British Commonwealth are staffed with some of the most \u2018…professionally well-trained men and women. They are highly intelligent, smart and quick-witted.\u2019 Given their expertise and investigative skills, they are referred […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12587,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-columns"],"yoast_head":"\nGUEST COLUMN: Delano Forbes - flight to liberty - Antigua News Room<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/antiguanewsroom.com\/guest-column-delano-forbes-flight-to-liberty\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GUEST COLUMN: Delano Forbes - flight to liberty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By\u00a0RAWLSTON POMPEY From that which was well-known among the law enforcement community, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of most Police Services, particularly, those within the British Commonwealth are staffed with some of the most \u2018…professionally well-trained men and women. 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