A witness in a murder matter was shot dead on Thursday night and police believe the hit on Jason “Feto” John may have come from within the prison. John, a father of three, was under a tree at his home on Sunrees Road, Penal, around 7.10 pm with his three-year-old daughter Jaycee John and brother Amanike Codrington when a man approached and asked for drugs. Police said the man then shot John.
Hearing the gunshots, John’s common-law wife, Joanne Peschier, went outside and grabbed the child, while Codrington ran into nearby bushes. John’s neighbour, 58-year-old Glenn Roberts, was struck in the abdomen by a stray bullet. He was taken to the San Fernando General Hospital and warded in stable condition. Police said John was a witness to the May 8, 2010, murder of Penal labourer Michael Jacob, also known as Michael Ramsaran. Ramsaran was shot dead while with friends at Beckles Street, Penal.
He was expected to testify on Tuesday in the preliminary inquiry against the murder accused, Travis Ali, also known as Alex Lewis, at the Siparia Magistrates Court. Standing over the spot where his brother was shot, Codrington said the gunman walked into the street. He said he came for the sole purpose of executing his brother.
“When he watched up the hill he noticed it was my brother and it was like that was the man he came for. He walked back up the hill, took out his gun from his black Jansport bag and started to shoot my brother. “I ran in the bushes behind the house and as I watched, I saw the gunman standing over my brother and squeezed. I don’t know how much shots he bust, but he just squeezed and made sure he was dead...After that the gunman just walked up the hill, normal.”
John’s sister Amanda Codrington said it was not the first attempt on her brother’s life, as he had survived being shot nine times by a former brother-in-law. In 2010, shortly after he witnessed Jacob’s murder, a gunman held his mother and nephew at gunpoint at their Fazal Trace, Penal home as they searched for John. Codrington, then 18, was instead shot several times, leaving him with a damaged left eye.
Flashback
During a UNC Monday Night Forum in Gasparillo on May 6, the PM said prisoners were using cellphones to order murders and other criminal acts. She said it was confirmed by the National Security Council after a probe into the claim, which was first made by former national security minister Martin Joseph almost five years ago.
She said plans were afoot to implement mobile phone signal jammers which would locate the phones and block calls and text messages within the prisons. The move was also welcomed by Prison Commissioner Martin Martinez, but has not yet been put into effect.