Twelve months have passed since PC Clarence Gilkes said goodbye to his nephews before reporting for duty for the last time.

Today, long after Gilkes' name has slipped from the public's eye, his family continues to live with the trauma of his death.

He is remembered as a dedicated policeman, bravely carrying out his duty.

But the facts surrounding his demise tell a disturbing story which in some ways remain unclear even one year later.

Gilkes, 44, was shot and killed when he and a team of police officers confronted Jehlano Romney on a staircase on the steep hillside of Richplain, Diego Martin, on the afternoon of April, 22, 2022.

While the official account given by fellow officers at the time claimed Gilkes was shot by Romney, an autopsy revealed he was shot in head from behind by a bullet from a police gun.

On August, 6, 2022, two of Gilkes' team mates PC Kristian Genty and WPC Crystal Williams-Bowman were jointly charged with shooting with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Genty was additionally charged with Gilkes' murder.

[caption id="attachment_1012377" align="aligncenter" width="504"] PC Kristian Genty charged with murdering PC Clarence Gilkes. - TTPS[/caption]

Romney, 29, of Upper Richplain, was murdered on November, 13, 2022 in Morvant but the case against the officers will proceed.

Speaking with Newsday at their family's La Resource Road, D'Abadie, home last month, Gilkes' older brother, Mervyn Gilkes, reflected on the bizarre nature of his brother's death.

Even after his death, images of the younger Gilkes are on the wall and mantelpiece. The programme for his funeral is stuck to a rack with greeting cards, while a T-shirt with his image worn at the funeral hangs in the living room.

In all the pictures, Gilkes is frozen in time, wearing his police cap and grey tunic.

For Mervyn, the pain linger one.

"Look at the way the man died.

"I sit down and think it was a gunshot to the back of my brother's head he got you know.

"He didn't die right away.

"I sometimes wonder what his last words were."

Gilkes was the second youngest of five children.

After graduating from the Arima Central Secondary School, he worked several jobs to support himself and his family.

[caption id="attachment_1012368" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Mervyn Gilkes with a memoriam signed by police officers of his brother PC Clarence Gilkes at his home in La Resource, D'Abadie on March 23. - AYANNA KINSALE[/caption]

He started off as a bag boy for the neighbourhood grocery before he went on to work as an On the Job Trainee (OJT) in Mt Hope, while studying for his master's degree in Business Administration.

Gilkes' accomplishments and ambition have always been a source of pride for their family, he said.

It was this ambition that led Gilkes to join the police service in 2011 which he hoped to use as a stepping stone to get a law degree.

"He always said he wanted to learn the work.

"He had a lot of court matters and he used to go to court and he wanted to learn law so he was using that to get ex