…one day after mayor calls for further investigations

TOWN Clerk Royston King on Tuesday sacked two city constabulary officers whose names were called in the sex scandal involving a 15-year-old boy last August.

TOWN Clerk Royston King on Tuesday sacked two city constabulary officers whose names were called in the sex scandal involving a 15-year-old boy last August.  The decision to fire the officers, Lance Corporal Clifton Pellew and Quacy Baveghems, came one day after Mayor Patricia Chase-Green called on the Legal Affairs Committee to do a thorough investigation and to obtain more statements that were not earlier taken.

Last Monday, at a meeting at City Hall, Councillor Heston Bostwick suggested that the officers proceed on administrative leave while the investigations continued; but Town Clerk Royston King responded that absolutely nothing was proven and that the council should not be carried away by news reports on the matter.

Chase-Green had even refused to entertain a discussion on the matter, because she said there had been lots of lapses in the entire matter so far and that full council would only be allowed to deliberate on the issue when the Legal Affairs Committee comes forward with its decision.  Public Relations Officer at the City Council, Debra Lewis,  would only tell the Chronicle on Tuesday that new information had surfaced. Chase-Green could not be reached for comment, and King said, via his secretary, that he could not take the Chronicle’s call.

Chief Constable Andrew Foo would only say that King is the fittest person to speak with and that he was informed of the decision to fire the officers after King had made the decision.

“”I am blindsided, utterly surprised, shocked and disgusted as a Councillor and Chairman of the Legal Affairs and Security Committee that a matter which was submitted to the committee, and which the committee is still looking at, is being dealt with now unilaterally,” Alliance For Change (AFC) Councillor Sherod Duncan shared on social media.

“Why now? The town clerk interviewed the alleged victim in his office and submitted no report to the committee on what transpired. Should he be sent home as well? Justice [has] fallen,” Duncan, who also posted the dismissal letters of Pellew and Baveghems, continued.   Pellew was fired for “gross misconduct” at the Regent Street outpost where it is said he engaged in a sexual act with a juvenile, while Baveghems’ letter said he was dismissed for his “dereliction of duty.” “You stated that you saw Lance Corporal Clifton Pellew engaging in a sexual act with a juvenile that was in the custody of the City Constabulary, but you took no action. Further, you made no entry of the occurrence in the station diary. Please return to the Chief Constable all items issued to you in the performance of your duties,” Baveghems’ letter further said.

Meanwhile, the Chronicle understands that the juvenile was allegedly approached by the officer in the wee hours of the morning and made to engage in the act. The incident occurred sometime between August 22 and 23 last.

The chief constable told this newspaper last Monday that although he was aware that the lance corporal at reference faced a similar matter in 2016, everyone is deemed innocent until they are proven guilty.

He said he didn’t foresee any challenges with the officer being allowed to remain on the job, since it was unlikely that he could have interfered with the investigation that was being done by the committee.

Pellew’s 2016 matter was reportedly dropped, because the victim did not pursue it.