Constable Jeffers of the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force, involved in the shooting-death of 17-year-old Nevisian Philo Wallace was arrested and charged with manslaughter on Monday.
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 (except one) had determined that Wallace’s shooting death was a “justifiable homicide.”
At approximately 3:45 a.m. on Saturday, October 17, 2015, an altercation took place at Enrique Bar in Charlestown, Nevis which resulted in Wallace of Hamilton Village being shot in the chest and the wounding of a police officer.
Wallace was rushed to the Alexandra Hospital where he died about half an hour after.
It was learnt that the officer, 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.