Inquest ordered over man shot by cops outside prison
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has recommended that an inquest be held into the death of Shane Scipio who was shot by police seven months ago outside the Georgetown Prison.
This is according to a reliable source who told Stabroek News that a case file was sent to the DPP’s Chambers for legal advice which subsequently recommended that an inquest be held.
Scipio, was shot and killed during August last year after he allegedly attacked a police officer after he was approached about his disorderly behaviour. He was shot once to his abdomen outside the Georgetown Prison at Camp and D’Urban streets and died while receiving medical attention at the Georgetown Public Hospital (GPH).
One week after the incident, Scipio was positively identified by a friend, Simpson Sandwell, who had visited this newspaper and other media houses in order to seek the help of the public in locating Scipio’s relatives.
Sandwell had said that he knew Scipio for a number of years and that he had been a resident of the Night Shelter and a patient at the GPH Psychiatric Ward.
Sandwell’s intervention saw Scipio’s photo published and televised and his relatives subsequently visited the GPH mortuary, where they positively identified his remains.
The police had said in a press release that enquiries disclosed that Scipio went to the back of the prison at John and D’Urban streets and began to behave disorderly, throwing down some steel barriers in the presence of the policemen guarding the perimeter of the prison.
“He was taken into custody by ranks of a police patrol, but subsequently returned and continued the said behaviour and action, south in front of the prison,” the statement had noted.
A police constable, armed with a service weapon and under the supervision of a subordinate officer, allegedly came under attack when he approached the unarmed man.
“In the process the constable discharged a round, hitting him in the lower abdomen,” the police had said.