Search continues for escaped killer
By GYASI GONZALES
gyasi.conzales@trinidadexpress.comStory Created: Jun 28, 2013 at 1:46 PM ECT
Story Updated: Jun 28, 2013 at 6:25 PM ECT
A scaled down search continued yesterday for escaped convicted killer, David John Pierre who was last spotted in the Maracas Valley, St Joseph area.
On Tuesday there was a massive search for Pierre in the hills overlooking Maracas Valley after he was seen by residents near the Maracas Valley Recreation Grounds located at the corner of Santa Barbara Road and the Maracas Royal Road.
Residents said they heard several gunshots that morning. The police set up a roadblock later that day.
A resident also told the Express earlier this week that Pierre had a few relatives in the community but his relations with them were not very strong.
Pierre, then 22-years-old, was found guilty of killing 52-year-old Chanker Mootilal, in October 2002. He was sentenced to death by Justice Melville Baird.
According to the State's case, at around 11 a.m. on February 28, 2000, Pierre got into a taxi driven by Mootilal at Sangre Grande.
On reaching the 3 3/4 Mile Mark along the Toco Main Road, Vega de Oropouche, Pierre slit Mootilal's neck with a knife.
Mootilal handed over money, and Pierre cut him again. He then ordered Rampersad to help another passenger take Mootilal into some bushes at the side of the road, and to throw him into a pond.
Pierre took Mootilal's car and headed to Port of Spain, where he was held by a Traffic Branch officer after a high-speed chase along the Priority Bus Route. Mootilal died at hospital.
In 2003, Pierre's death sentence was vacated by the Court of Appeal, with the order that the case be remitted to a High Court Judge for sentencing in light of the Privy Council ruling that the death sentence was no longer mandatory.
As a result, Pierre's sentence was commuted to life in prison.
Pierre is believed to have escaped sometime between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m. on Sunday. According to a statement from the Prison Service "He must be apprehended at once since he may be armed and considered dangerous. Any information as to his whereabouts must be reported immediately to the nearest police station and/or the prison authorities.
Pierre, 33, is described as brown in colour, 172 centimetres tall, 60 kilogrammes in weight, with a long face, brown eyes, low cut hair and slim build. He has a small scar on the forehead and left cheek, a tattoo of the name "Janelle" on the upper right arm, a tattoo of a heart on the right forearm, a long scar on the right side lower abdomen, small scar on the left lower abdomen, a long scar on the centre of the back, and burn marks at the back of the neck.
Pierre is of mixed descent, a Muslim, and worked as a welder before his arrest. He is single with no children and his last known address is Edoo Trace, Success Village, Laventille.