Nearly 10 months after the Integrity Commission’s (IC) director of corruption prevention was shot and injured in a suspected robbery, the police are reporting that he has not provided a statement to them.
Deputy Commissioner in charge of the crime and security portfolio, Fitz Bailey, in providing the update at a police press conference on Tuesday, said the complainant in the matter is reportedly “afraid”.
Bailey is appealing to him to come forward and provide the statement in order to continue the investigation.
“Whilst we are aware of the incident, and we have sought to appreciate the complaint, to this date, based on the information I got from our investigator, the complainant has not given a statement,” said the deputy commissioner.
“He (the complainant) refused from giving the statement under the pretext that he’s afraid. That’s what has been communicated to us, so we can’t proceed or progress an investigation without a formal complaint,” Bailey explained.
On that score, the senior law enforcer appealed to the individual who was shot “to make himself available to be interviewed, and to give the police a statement so they can progress the investigation”.
It was reported that on September 21, 2023, the IC director, Ryan Evans, was reportedly shot by one of two men who were travelling on a motorcycle. The incident occurred outside the commission’s office in New Kingston.
The police had pointed to robbery as the perceived motive for the attack, as a briefcase that Evans was carrying was taken in the incident.
Evans then reportedly drove himself to the hospital.
Last week, the IC’s chairman, retired Justice Seymour Panton, expressed, among other things, disappointment with what he said was the lack of an update from the police relative to the shooting of one of its directors.
Writing in his remarks in the IC’s annual report, Panton described the incident as “a serious criminal act” that was committed in the vicinity of the commission’s office.
“One of its (the IC’s) directors was shot and robbed. That crime remains unsolved. I imagine that investigations are taking place. However, neither the director nor the commission has received any update since the incident,” Panton wrote.
“The police ought to be very concerned that this happened in the New Kingston business district where there are no zinc fences, no bushes, and very few side roads, yet the perpetrator was able to disappear without trace in the clear morning light,” the retired jurist stated.
