TRINIDAD EXPRESS...JUNE 24, 2 K 13 Killer on the loose Convicted murderer escapes from Carrera By Rickie Ramdass rickie.ramdass@trinidadexpress Story Created: Jun 23, 2013 at 11:18 PM ECT Story Updated: Jun 23, 2013 at 11:18 PM ECT A NATIONWIDE manhunt was launched yesterday in search of convicted killer David John Pierre, who was sentenced to death in 2002 for the murder two years earlier of a Sangre Grande taxi-driver. Pierre was discovered missing from his prison cell at the Carerra Island Prison early yesterday by officers who were making their early-morning patrol, said prison officials. It was around 6 a.m. that officers on patrol noticed Pierre was not in the cell and one of the metal bars had been removed. Upon making the discovery, prison officers said other officers were alerted and both the police and Coast Guard contacted who later joined in the search. However, up to yesterday evening Pierre was not found. Officers said it was uncertain if after escaping from the cell, Pierre swam to shore, if a vessel was waiting in the nearby waters to pick him up and carry him to safety or if he even made it out of the water alive. Attempts to contact Prisons Commissioner Martin Martinez yesterday proved futile as all calls to his cellular phone went unanswered. Text messages were also not immediately returned. Pierre, 33, of Edoo Trace, Success Village, Laventille, was charged and eventually sentenced to hang for the February 28, 2000, murder of Chankar Mootilal at 3 3/4 Mile Mark, Toco Main Road, Vega de Oropouche. Mootilal’s throat was slit. The evidence that led to the 12-member jury finding Pierre guilty was that he, posing as a passenger in Mootilal’s taxi, slit Mootilal’s throat twice after robbing him of a quantity of cash. After carrying out the crime, the State had contended that Pierre forced another passenger to help him dump Mootilal in a pond 75 feet away from the roadside, before stealing the car. He was held by police some time later following a high-speed chase along the Priority Bus Route (PBR), from Barataria to the Central Market, Port of Spain. Pierre was held driving Mootilal’s car, and the murder weapon was also found with him, the State had submitted. Snr Supt of the Western Division Ishmael David said his officers and other officers throughout the country were working hand-in-hand with Coast Guard and prison officials in seeking to recapture Pierre. “A bulletin went out to the whole of Trinidad and Tobago for him. It is a convicted murderer on the loose, so we have to find him,” said David. Up to last night, the Prison Service did not release Pierre’s photograp
Posted on: Mon, 24 Jun 2013 13:43:08 +0000
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