Serious allegations of attempts to pervert the course of justice were made against a senior police officer involved in the investigation against Commissioner of Police Erla Harewood-Christopher.
At the time the complaints were made in 2023, the senior investigator worked with the police’s Professional Standards Bureau (PSB).
The officer making the complaint, Sgt Sean Haywood, expressed deep concerns over the manner in which this senior police officer handled two firearm-related investigations.
He was moved to make a report to Deputy Commissioner of Police Intelligence and Investigations Curt Simon, which was also sent to the Commissioner of Police (Harewood-Christopher) for onward transmission to the Minister of National Security, Fitzgerald Hinds.
It was copied to the head of the National Security Council and Police Complaints Authority (PCA).
Eleven days after being arrested and interrogated, the CoP is yet to be charged, as the Director of Public Prosecutions, Roger Gaspard, has not yet given the green light to lay a charge based on the evidence provided to him so far by the investigating team.
Possible charges would be misbehaviour in public office arising out of Harewood-Christopher’s granting of a licence for the importation and use of the two sniper firearms which found their way to the Strategic Services Agency (SSA), which is itself under probe.
Two years before this senior investigator’s involvement in this case against Harewood-Christopher, allegations were made that the senior officer attempted to pervert the course of justice, exhibited bias, lacked transparency and accountability, stymied certain investigations, and acted contrary to the advice of the DPP when the officer instructed Haywood to alter an exhibit “to dismantle a firearm, remove a part of the said firearm seized and hand over the firearm evidence back to the suspect”, which, Haywood said, was contrary to the advice of the DPP.
Sgt Haywood confirms report
The Sunday Express contacted Haywood yesterday to confirm whether he had indeed made the 2023 report.
He said: “Any reports I would have sent, were sent not because I hate the person but would have been done in the interest of the Police Service. I did what I was supposed to do. And you should also note that this was not as a result of what is going on now (ie, the ongoing investigations with respect to the Commissioner of Police). My report was done a long time ago. Nothing came out of it. But I did my part and I stand by my words.”
Based on his letters, Sgt Haywood appeared to be so troubled by what he experienced and witnessed that he took his allegations against the senior cop to the Minister of National Security (Hinds) via the Commissioner of Police (Harewood-Christopher).
In a letter dated November 17, 2023, to the “Minister of National Security ufs (under first signature) Commissioner of Police, the memo was titled: “Alleged attempt by senior officer to pervert the course of justice” and Haywood attached a copy of his report dated July 5, 2023, to Deputy Commissioner Simon containing all the allegations against the senior cop’s attempt to “pervert the course of public justice relative on ongoing firearms investigations of national importance”.
The letter to the CoP for onward transmission to the minister was delivered to the office of the Commissioner of Police on July 10, 2023.
Haywood said in his report dated July 5, 2023, addressed to Simon (and reinforced in a second memo dated September 12, 2023) that the senior cop oversaw two investigations involving persons whose names had been linked to high-profile cases involving illegal weapons importation and possession.
Haywood said “under the guise of lending assistance”, the Professional Standards Bureau…(name called), caused this investigation to be “stymied by non-issues…On numerous occasions I was informed that other assignments took priority over my investigation, causing the retardation of any progress in the investigation”.
Stating that on several occasions he questioned why he was receiving little or no assistance from the PSB, Haywood added: “There is the appearance based on evidence that (name called) is not interested in the completion of this investigation.”
He said the senior investigator, in the presence of other officers, instructed him not to interview certain subjects of the investigation, and provided no “legal authority or other reasonable justification for this instruction”.
In one of the investigations, Haywood said the senior investigator took the position that some of the persons involved in this matter were “good persons”, persons of “good repute”, were not members of any gang and should not be charged.
Haywood said he believed that (name called) knew the persons involved and this affected the manner in which the investigation was handled.
“The lack of support by (name called) for these serious firearm offences committed and to unofficially and illegally decriminalise the illegal acts committed by said persons, simply because…was of the opinion that the said suspects were ‘good persons’, as (the senior cop) highlighted their status, speaks volumes.
“Furthermore, (name called) kept enquiring as to what was my way forward in these investigations because (the senior cop) was of the opinion that persons on the list were of good repute. I kept urging (senior cop) not to get involved but (senior investigator) religiously pursued giving me…instructions not to proceed against those persons and that I should only pursue the Dealer (name called).
“(The senior investigator) requested that I furnish…in writing, how I proposed to continue the investigations. This is not normal in investigation procedures,” Haywood stated. He added that (name called) undertook to call in suspects in possession of items of evidential value (ie, firearm components) which had proven to be “a disaster and a slap in the face for any proper investigation”.
“I informed (the senior investigator) I did not agree with the recommended course of actions, however (the senior investigator) pushed (that) idea at the DPP’s office and informed him it will be just about ten suspects that will be contacted for statement purposes. The DPP clearly informed (the senior investigator) that notwithstanding the recording of statements, he did not take the position that the said persons…would not be charged,” Haywood said.
He said at one point, (name called) called him to the kitchen area and asked him to listen in to a telephone conversation that (the senior cop) was having with DPP Roger Gaspard.
He said he heard the DPP say to (name called) that the (senior cop) “should allow the process of the investigation to follow as per usual and take its natural course”.
Said Haywood: “I understood from the DPP’s advice that (the senior cop) was wrong to instruct me to alter the exhibit.”
Carnival Monday directive
Haywood said on Carnival Monday in 2023, the senior investigator issued instructions which the officer said were in “furtherance to the directives of the DPP’s instructions/advice”, which included reporting to the Specialist Evidence Recovery Unit (SERU) and having the armourer remove the slide from a firearm which had been submitted as an exhibit and to submit the slide for analysis, which he said would have altered the exhibit and all future analysis report(s).
He said the senior investigator had no legal authority to do so since it could amount to an attempt to tamper with evidence.
Haywood said he was also instructed by the senior cop to hand over the remaining firearm parts to the accused who had not yet been charged for the suspected offences committed; and the senior cop also instructed that he return the FUL licence #217/2021 seized and all other items to the accused, which, he said, the senior investigator had no legal authority to do.
Haywood claimed the senior investigator was not truthful when referencing instructions to “previous discussions and directives from the Director of Public Prosecutions held in my presence. This was never the directive of the DPP, his final statement was ‘let the evidence go through the natural/correct channel’”.
Haywood said he reminded (name called) that the DPP’s final instructions/advice with reference to this subject were to allow the exhibits to go through the normal/natural process, and that the further instructions the senior cop was advancing were not his (DPP’s) directive. He said the senior investigator then communicated instructions in writing through ASP Birch.
After responding in writing that he believed the senior investigator was wrong, Haywood said he complied with the written instructions.
Transfer me
While Haywood’s report goes into painstaking detail on the matters under investigation, he concluded by stating: “I have reached the point where I am convinced that I cannot continue any of the aforementioned enquiries at PSB due to a lack of transparency, accountability, apparent bias, illegal instructions and pressure to pervert the course of justice” which could amount to possible misbehaviour in public office, instigated/directed by (name called). (The senior investigator) is, in my opinion, doing everything in…power to terminate all of my cases under investigation.
“Further since I commenced duties at the PSB office in February 2022, (name called) has never appointed a team to support the completion of any of my investigations as I have seen in other matters.
“As a consequence of the aforementioned and in an effort to stymie the constant interference which will cause all my efforts to become futile, I am now forced to request/recommend that you transfer me immediately from PSB so that I can continue and conclude my investigations timely and impartiality, and with other assistance recommended by your office inclusive of the Anti-Corruption and Investigations Bureau (ACIB),” he said.
The letter was copied to the Commissioner of Police (Harewood-Christopher).
