BASSETERRE – A police officer has been charged with manslaughter following reports of his involvement in the shooting death of a teenager three years ago.
The police report that Constable Zaviel Jeffers of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, was arrested and charged on Monday in connection with the death of Philo Wallace, 17.
In April last year, Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Valston Graham, had advised the Police High Command that the Constable should be charged.
The DPP’s recommendation was made despite the findings at the Coroner’s Inquest in March 2016, when a five-member jury had determined that Wallace’s shooting death was a “justifiable homicide.”
It’s reported that on the morning of Saturday, October 17, 2015, an altercation took place at a bar in Charlestown, Nevis which resulted in Wallace being shot in the chest and the wounding of a police officer.
Wallace was rushed to the Alexandra Hospital where he died shortly after.
Jeffers, who had suffered an injury to his head, was identified as the individual who shot Wallace to the chest at close range and was off-duty at the time of the incident. – CMC