National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds and Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr. Amery Browne said the US government pulled its assistance for the special operations response team (SORT) in 2021.
The move came following the deaths of two suspects in the murder of Andrea Bharrat while in police custody.
In March 2021, Andrew Morris was arrested in connection with the case. In a Newsday article from February 3, 2021, Griffith was quoted as saying, “The man was in custody and he was offered something to eat by the police but he refused. He was placed in a chair when he fell. The officers acted swiftly and took him to the hospital where he died.”
The PM recently raised the issue during a post-Cabinet media briefing on March 27, where he said he asked Griffith about the case and was allegedly blatantly lied to by the (then) CoP. Griffith responded via voicemail, alleging Rowley was a liar.
“Let him show where I ever said that anyone died because they fell off a chair.”
Hinds quoted the article and also played a TikTok from Voices of the Street on 91.9 FM, posted on Friday, where Griffith said, “I would love to do a polygraph test with me and Keith Rowley to show that he’s a blatant liar, show where it is I ever told you persons died because they fell off a chair. That is a blatant lie. This is a matter that took place four, five years ago and he keeps holding on to that.
“These are two men who were involved in the killing of Andrea Bharrat. They will never be able to kill again, they will never hurt another female again, and these were two men who were involved in over 60 other charges for rape, sexual assault for women, and that’s what Keith Rowley continues to speak about. So because these two people died at the hands of the police, he keeps trying to put me as if I am to blame for that situation.”
Hinds reminded that murder is never statute-barred and the matter remains under active police investigation.
He called the remarks flippant, especially coming from a former police commissioner. He said there had been ramifications for the government.
Browne quoted from the Newsday article, which said, “Police sources said the man was beaten severely by officers while in custody and believed he may have died from injuries.
The man was a suspect in the disappearance of 22-year-old court clerk Andrea Bharatt.
“‘Speaking with Newsday on Wednesday, Griffith said the man was arrested after a confrontation with police in Sangre Grande where officers were injured but denied they beat the suspect.’”
Browne said on March 24, 2021, he received a visit from a delegation from the US Embassy, led by then Chargé d’Affaires Shante Moore, on what he described as an urgent and important demarche.
“He informed that as a result of the investigation into the members of the police service’s SORT, stemming from the Andrea Bharrat murder investigation in February 2021, the US was obligated to cease all forms of security assistance to SORT under the US Lehy Law. One day after this, on March 25, the Ministry of Fo
