(Trinidad Express) A police inspector appeared before an Arima magistrate yesterday charged with the abduction and murder of a Carenage man, Johnny Noel, one month after he was allegedly kidnapped from a friend’s home in Maloney.
Inspector Carmilton Collins, 45, first appeared before Magistrate Krishendeo Narinesingh in the Arima First Court at 9.30 a.m. and the matter was quickly adjourned to April 23.
Around 10 a.m. in the court, attorney Gideon McCaster, who was representing Collins’ interests on behalf of another attorney, Larry Williams, asked that the matter be brought back before the court as there were some issues he needed to address with respect to the case.
Attorney McCaster said that he understood that Collins was arrested and charged on Tuesday and he was questioning the legitimacy of his client’s arrest.
He said their initial information about the case was that the people who abducted Noel all wore masks and that he (McCaster) was seeking disclosure as to how Collins was identified as the perpetrator.
“Right now we are eager to proceed with this matter as we understand the suspects wore masks, but Mr Collins was put on parade and we simply want to know how he was identified,” said McCaster.
However, the court’s police prosecutor explained that he would not be able to furnish the defence with disclosure at this time as a State attorney is yet to be assigned to the case.
The victim was 32-year-old Noel, who lived with his relatives in Carenage. On the night of March 11, he was reportedly abducted by a group of men while liming at a friend’s house in Maloney.
On the afternoon of March 15, Noel’s body was found in a river off Churchill-Roosevelt Highway and, almost simultaneously, Collins was arrested.
By March 22, however, Collins had not yet been charged with anything and after a writ of Habeas Corpus was filed on his behalf in the Port of Spain High Court he walked out that afternoon. But on Tuesday this week, he was re-arrested.
Collins will re-appear in court on April 23.
