Today, 30 year-old Special Constable Joslyn Gill, seen here, became the 3rd police officer out on bail for charged in relation to the Thyrel Hyde shakedown which was caught on tape. This afternoon, Gill was arraigned before Magistrate Hettie Mae Stuart, for theft of $260, which was withdrawn from Hyde's account on September 8. He pleaded not guilty, and he was granted bail of $4,000, which he was able to meet.
Staying true to the cop culture at the court, SC Gill tried his best to avoid the media, with the help of his fellow officers. He was supposed to be arraigned in the morning, which did not happen, and even though he was in custody, he was allowed to slip out the back door, without a police escort so as to not draw attention. Now, that is very irregular because ordinarily, persons who are charged and have been escorted to court, are in police custody, and they should not be released until they have been arraigned, and bail is met. That didn't stop Gill from leaving the court as though he was a free man.
When he returned in the afternoon, he was without his police escort yet again. Our photo-journalist tried to get him on camera, and Gill decided he wasn't going to have that. When he got close enough, he took on the behaviour of a common criminal and slapped the camera out of the journalist's hands, and ran into the Magistrate's Court. Now, as is usual with police officers detained, he wasn't placed in the holding cell, yet another perk, which ordinary citizens don't enjoy. With that freedom, he was able to get in and out of the court without reporters knowing that his arraignment had taken place.
And to top it off, the bail form, which other accused persons have to sign before they are released, was hand delivered to him by one of the officers working at the court. This was done so that he could avoid being seen by the cameras outside. Again, this is not afforded to any other persons who have been charged, everyone else is paraded from the holding cell to the main office to sign that form, and afterwards, they are then free to leave through the way they came in. This is the same VIP treatment that Police Corporal Reymundo Requena and Constable Edgar Teul were given when they were arraigned last week for theft charges in relation to the Thyrel Hyde incident. After his bail was finalized, he waited for the opportune moment and ran away before any cameras could get his face.
Coming back to our journalist, whose equipment was damaged, he's lodged a formal police complaint, and the case officer has promised that Constable Gill will be charged with damaged to property.
As we told you, Requena, Teul, and Gill are all officers who have been implicated in one of the most brazen police shakedown caught on tape. These officers are being accused of escorting Hyde under the pretence of official police business to the Atlantic Bank ATM on Freetown Road, where they used his ATM card, withdrew $260 from his account, and releasing him with the threat of being arrested if he was ever seen again.
