Munroe: Unreleased footage supports minister, not police officer

Munroe: Unreleased footage supports minister, not police officer
Minister of National Security Wayne Munroe

NASSAU, BAHAMAS — National Security Minister Wayne Munroe says police have shown him witness statements and unreleased video footage that support Minister of Transport & Housing Jobeth Coleby-Davis’ account of an alleged altercation with a police officer in May.

He said the footage will not be publicly released.

His comments came yesterday after Eyewitness News published the police statement of an alleged witness who said he was saddened by what he saw during the Carnival road march.

The man claimed he saw a woman, purportedly the minister, bump an officer with her car.

Munroe said: “(Police has) extensive recording that sets out what is happening…I’ve been privileged as they brief me on everything else to see the witness statements. The witness statement you report on doesn’t seem to be consistent with the video recording that we have seen and I would imagine it’s a matter of them finishing whatever they would want to do before they decide who they are going to proceed against.”

Jobeth Coleby-Davis.

Munroe said in the video he has seen, the person recording the film was in “the actual vantage point of the vehicle and the side of the vehicle that the officer was on.”

He said the footage showed “two separate officers coming from two separate directions and joining him at two different times.”

“I have seen statements that are inconsistent with the video recording and I’ve seen statements that are consistent with the video recordings,” he said.

He added: “The video we have even has a gentlemen coming up and telling the officer ‘oh yes that’s a minister,’ the issue being that he says he didn’t know she was a minister. So the (footage) I have seen not only has visual but has audio and I think that’s the challenge for the people pushing the narrative that they’re pushing.

“But I’m not investigating. If they came up with other material, know that they will consider it. I’m not making any inquiries. The most I do is they refer a matter to me where they brief me.

“They choose what they brief me on, they brief me on violent crime; they briefed me on this because it involves a cabinet minister and I would be responsible for briefing the prime minister on it and so they’ve briefed me. They’ve sent me the videos, they’ve sent me the statements and the prime minister’s position clearly sets out what my position is. I’ve watched the videos, I’ve read the statements. The minister’s account is consistent with the videos.

A video purportedly showing part of the encounter was circulated in May.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis referred to that video while defending Colebey-Davis in the House of Assembly last week.

Police Staff Association Chairman Ricardo Walkes has said only a part of the encounter was captured on that video.

Munroe said: “If you see the video, even if you read the statement based on the short excerpt that’s in the public domain, it’s not consistent with what you report from the witness statement from the fella if it’s the guy I think; having read the statement it’s not consistent with that, no part of the videos are consistent with that because the account is being struck three times while the vehicle is coming out of the corner. And so you just watch it, even the one that was released.”

“Somebody says they’re struck by a car. That means the car has to be proceeding at a certain pace. That means you should see the car come in contact with the person and it should happen three times.”

“I suspect that people just don’t realize that people record things. That has tripped up some policemen on some occasions. So the public just has to bear in mind that we live in a highly videoed environment now. The things that you could get away with back before camera phones and smartphones you really can’t get away with today.”

Munroe said he has told the new commissioner Clayton Fernander and his predecessor Paul Rolle that police spend a lot of time investigating matters that are ultimately falsified by video evidence.

“At some point,” he said, “they have to consider exacting a price on people who make up stories when they are clearly shown to not be so by video. I think if they do that they will save themselves some investigating time.”

2 comments

Why won’t the good Minister release the the video so the public can judge!

Totally agree with you my friend. If the video supports the Minister Claims why not release it? This shows that the statements of the NS Minister and the actions of the Transport Minister don’t equate.

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