Cornelius John Shooting: 10 weeks after the shooting, no arrest, no charges, third person still elusive, no medical records can be found – lawyer
(Diamond – St Vincent ) – The police visited Cornelius John’s property on Sunday, June 20th, without the knowledge of his Lawyer.
John, a 62-year-old, was shot at his home ten weeks ago. He has accused Government Senator Ashelle Morgan of threatening to shoot him if he calls her name.
On Monday, John’s Lawyer Kay Bacchus Baptiste speaking on the radio, said;
“The police came on Sunday evening without my knowledge, saying they want to take some more measurements, and get more information, things they did last week when I was there”.
“I don’t understand why they would want to come back again without my presence to take more pictures and put down more markers. To me, it’s like harassment; it’s like they are trying to confuse my client. I understand the police came back under the directive of the DPP.
“I don’t know what new information they are hoping to get, asking him the same questions, they want to charge him, but the charge keeps changing. First, they accused him of assaulting his wife. Then, he was accused of assaulting Karim and Ashelle with a cutlass, and now it changed to issuing threats against his wife and Ashelle, but only assaulting Ashelle. How credible can they be”.
Bacchus Baptiste said after ten weeks, the third person had not been revealed, and she has written again to the Police and DPP; however, there has been no response.
Bacchus Baptiste had this to say about the medical records for Cornelius John, which according to information, cannot be found.
“My client has been trying to get his medical records for six weeks now since I came on the scene. I asked to get his medical records for various reasons; he and his brother went to the hospital about eight times, one time, the hospital personnel said they could not find it, another time it was said it would be done, come back, to this day he can’t get his report.”
“Yes, ten weeks after the shooting, they said they couldn’t find his record; if you are going to bring a criminal case, you must have the medical record. It is going to be disastrous for the prosecution’s case if they don’t have this information, and if you are going to sue, you need those records to get compensation. Remember compensation is based on the gravity of the offence, and the best way to show this is through the medical records”.
“In the future, we are going to bring our civil case. However, Mr John wants his justice in the criminal courts”, Bacchus Baptiste said.
Police say Senator and Deputy Speaker of Parliament Ashelle Morgan and Assistant DPP Karim Nelson are persons of interest in the shooting case.
Background
Cornelius John of Diamond told News784 that on the afternoon of April 13th, he was sitting on a block in his unfinished porch when three persons, one woman and two men dressed in jeans, t-shirts, masks, and caps, entered his property without prior warning.
He said the tallest of the men stepped up to him and began kicking him in the stomach, which caused him to defecate on himself.
He told News784 that the man, who was tall and well-built, took his actions even further while lying on the ground writhing in pain.
“While I was lying in pain on the ground, he pulled out his gun, cranked it, and told me, you want to kill the senator? You want to kill the senator?” and he proceeded to hold down my left foot and shoot me in it.”
The 62-year-hypertensive told News784 that the woman who entered his property along with the other two men pointed a gun to his face and told him if he called her name in any conversation, she would shoot him in the mouth. He identified the woman as Government Senator and Deputy Speaker of the House of Parliament, Ashelle Morgan.
When pressed by News784 as to how he knew it was Senator Morgan, John replied. ‘It was not hard to identify her.’
“I recognize her built, her voice, I looked at her, she grew up around here, I knew her since she was a child, she lives up the road not too far from me.”
John said after he told her, look at my mouth, shoot me in it; they (perpetrators) took off up the road.
“After the pain started to become unbearable, I shouted, you shoot me in my foot, people started coming out their houses, and they ran off in the direction where she Morgan lives.”
