By Elesha George
Superintendent of Prisons, Lieutenant Colonel Eugene Phillip told Observer that the family of alleged serial killer Delano Forbes has no need to fear that he will be killed while on remand at Her Majesty’s Prison (HMP) .
“His life isn’t in any danger,” the Lieutenant assured Observer in response to whether Forbes’ family had a legitimate concern to fear for his safety.
His father, Cuthbert Forbes Snr, and his younger brother Cuthbert Forbes Jnr said they have reason to believe that the now 26-year-old is in danger of being killed before he gets a fair trial.
“We’re afraid that the next time we get a call that he is going to be dead and then they’re going to twist the story and then it will become their word against his or their word against ours,” the brother said.
“The truth is that there is injustice happening. The truth is that they’re not following proper protocol. They’re not producing any evidence that is in line with how justice should be served. We want him to be treated like the other inmates.”
Forbes Jnr urged law enforcement to allow the proper legal course to take place and said he wants his brother to receive the same fair trial as any other inmate accused of murder.
His father, Forbes Snr maintained that “he is not the type of person they said he is”, explaining that his son lived a normal life and resided abroad not long before the events unfolded.
“He has friends. He has friends in prison and they’re the ones reaching out saying it’s cruelty. They’re the ones looking out and saying it’s not right,” he shared.
The father said he has not been able to see his son since he was incarcerated in December 2017, while his brother said he was only allowed to visit him once, as a special favour.
The superintendent of prisons, however, told Observer that there is nothing preventing Delano’s family from seeing him and that he is not aware of any sanctions on visiting the prisoner, noting that the mother had visited her son periodically in the past.
“We have no restriction on Mr Forbes,” Phillip declared.
Delano Forbes was 23 years old when he first was arrested for allegedly killing three people. The name ‘Vampire Killer’ was ascribed to him after the police released details that several containers of what appeared to be blood were found in his home when he was first arrested.
In February 2018, just about two months after being remanded to HMP, Forbes was said to have escaped the custody of police officers who had brought him along to the site of one of his alleged killings to corroborate information he had reportedly shared with investigators.
After almost a month on the run, the police charged Forbes with a fourth murder, where a man was found face down in a pool of blood. A container containing blood was found at the scene of the crime.