And reports were that following this confession, the person recording it informed Garcia of Pais' threats. Garcia allegedly went to the police station and made a report, after which Pais was arrested. The reports continued by saying he was later released without charges. It was after this alleged arrest that he went to Garcia's home and bludgeoned her, her mother, and her sister. The mother, 64-year-old Angela Flores Rodriguez passed away the next day. Now, one would think that the police failed in keeping Pais detained after his very clear threats. But the police are disputing this account.
According to the head of National Crimes Investigation, ACP Joseph Myvett, they learnt about the confession after the attack happened, and they never arrested Pais. He claimed that Pais only went to the police station twice - the first time to get a copy of a restraining order against him and the second time to hand himself in after he had beaten the women. Here's how our conversation with him went:
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head NCIB
"Firstly, the police was not aware that he had made a statement on social media. The first time he came to the station was on Sunday morning when one of the complainants visited the station to say she had a protection order against Mr Pais. Mr Pais arrived at the police station some 5 minutes after her and he indicated to the police that he had absolutely no knowledge of a restraining order. As a result the officer on duty there then made some research and printed a copy of the restraining order which he gave to Mr Pais explaining to him what the circumstances were. At that point in time, no other complaint was made against Mr Pais other than to say that he was seen around the area."
Reporter:
"Why was he arrested? Because we have information suggested that Mr Pais was initially arrested."
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head NCIB
"That is not the case that I was briefed on. What I know is that Mr Pais visited the station on his own on Sunday morning and police were in discussions with him and the complainant visiting the station and as a result he was issued with a copy of the order and advised with the consequences of the order after which both himself and the complainant left the station."
"Thereafter, the police became aware of an incident on Monday night around 9:40pm. As a result the police responded to the scene of the accident where those three persons were found injured. It was at 9:50pm on the same night that Mr Pais visited the police station and handed in himself so we are not aware of any of the allegations being made."
Reporter:
"The woman went to the police station because somebody informed her about this confession that Mr Pais made about what he was going to do and what we are understanding it was a police sergeant who indeed released Mr Pais saying he's a good man and he was only speaking out of anger."
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head NCIB
"I am not aware of any of those things. I personally spoke to those persons concerned before I came here to this press briefing to get the full understanding of what transpired hence the reason I was able to present the facts as they were presented to me."
Courtney Menzies:
"The condition of the other two women who were beaten?"
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head NCIB
"At this time they are both in stable condition and as Mr Romero had mentioned, there is some information that the deceased fell from the steps and we cannot say at this point in time whether or not that was as a consequence of the beating, if you may say, hence the reason why we would have to await the results of the postmortem to see what the cause of death would be before those charges are upgraded if they will be."
And another source of confusion stems from the matter of the restraining order. As you just heard, Pais received a copy of it on Sunday, August 15th - a day before the incident occurred. But then Myvett later said that Pais never broke the order since he didn't know it existed.
Courtney Menzies:
"Sir, seeing as though he broke this restraining order..."
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head NCIB
"But he could not break something that he was not aware of. He was not present when a restraining order was issued so he could not have broken something he was not aware of."
Reporter:
"He spoke about his restraining order in his confession, he asked the police department, he ask people for forgiveness for breaking..."
ACP Joseph Myvett, Head NCIB
"I saw that but do any of us know when that was made, exactly when that was made? Of course not. That began circulating on social media over the weekend so we are not aware that that was made and given to the police department."
Pais has still only been charged with grievous harm, so far.
