Layou residents say they can now sleep easier

Residents of Layou and surrounding areas say that they can sleep easier, following the news that escaped prisoner Godwin Moses was shot and killed by police.{{more}}

The residents expressed their relief, when SEARCHLIGHT visited the area a few hours after an attempt to apprehend Moses, 27, ended with him receiving several gunshot wounds last Sunday, December 11, at around 10:30 am.

According to a police press release, Moses, who escaped from Her Majesty’s Prisons on Monday, November 21, 2011, was seen in a minivan in the Happy Hill, Layou area, by police who were conducting a stop and search exercise in the area.

The release stated that when the vehicle was stopped, Moses, who was on remand for the shooting death of Layou resident Stevan Badnock Springer on December 9, 2010, “approached his waist with his hand and fled from the van into nearby bushes”.

The release further said that police then discharged their firearms in the direction of the running man, pursued him, and later discovered him in bushes some distance away.

He was then taken to the Milton Cato Memorial Hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The police statement added that checks on a .38 revolver, which was later handed over to them by the driver of the vehicle in which Moses was travelling, showed that the weapon belonged to Ewart ‘Ells’ King, who was shot and stabbed to death in his Pembroke home on Sunday, December 4.

The gun used in the December 9, 2010 shooting of Springer had not been recovered by police.

Moses, originally from Rilland Hill, had lived for a period of time in the town of Layou, where he was known.

Persons there, speaking to SEARCHLIGHT, related that since his jail break, there had been an increase of burglaries in the area, and as recently as the night before he was killed, one home was broken into and a quantity of food eaten.

Residents indicated that they were happy that Moses had been caught, as since his escape most persons were afraid to be out late at night.

The police statement indicated that Moses’ rap sheet of convictions included seven counts of burglary, one conviction for aggravated burglary, two for theft, one for criminal trespass, two for possession of a controlled drug, one for unlawful possession of a cellular phone and one for escaping lawful custody.

Last week, Prime Minister and Minister of National Security Dr Ralph Gonsalves said that police are investigating how Moses managed to escape custody.

A post-mortem examination is expected to be carried out.