Ex-Trinidad CoP predicted Sealy would be charged in Joshua Samaroo killing case months ago

Trinidad and Tobago: Former Commissioner of Police of Trinidad and Tobago Gary Griffith has slammed the leadership of Trinidad and Tobago Police Service for the poor handling of Joshua Samaroo police led killing case. He further accused them of eroding public trust by refusing to suspend the officers involved.

While speaking in an interview held in January days after the incident, Griffith said that the release of CCTV footage has already set the stage for what he believes will be a predictable police narrative which is aimed at justifying the wrong use of force.

“You’re going to eventually hear that… I know how these things work. They are going to say that the female had a firearm and was firing at the police,” he predicted. 

The ex-cop further argued that such claims would be at odds with what is visible in the footage that is being widely circulated and warned that the attention was being deliberately shifted away from the most critical issue that is the exact moment officers opened fire.

According to the former CoP, any reference made by the current Commissioner of Police Allister Guevarro regarding the video footage allegedly obtained before the shooting is meaningless in terms of law. He said that the only issue which matters is whether officers can show that they were facing an immediate and life-threatening danger at the exact time when the lethal force was used.

While talking about the CCTV footage, the ex-cop emphasised that there is no clear indication that officers were confronted with a threat that is severe enough to justify the volume and speed of gunfire unleashed on the vehicle.

The shooting, which took place in St Augustine in Trinidad on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 left the 31-year-old Samaroo dead and his common law wife Kaia Sealy injured and paralysed.

The CCTV footage from the incident has gone viral and it shows Samaroo unarmed, with his hands raised, moments before police fired more than two dozen shots into the car.

With the case now making headlines across the Caribbean region, pressure is mounting over the officials with locals expecting Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar to come out and explain why Sealy was charged in the police-led shooting incident.