By Tahna Weston
The police are refuting reports that a suspect has been detained in relation to the death of St Peter Member of Parliament, Asot Michael.
There were reports earlier this week that following the MP’s killing, someone had been detained, which Commissioner of Police Atlee Rodney denied. Persons were making comparisons to two unsolved murders involving teenagers, saying that all lives matter.
Rodney, speaking on Observer AM, said that the police have questioned a number of people as they seek to gather as much information as possible in order to solve the brutal killing.
Michael, 54, was found dead in his Dry Hill home with what is believed to be stab wounds about his body.
However, Commissioner Rodney said no stone will be left unturned in seeking to bring the perpetrator or perpetrators to justice.
“I think it’s unfortunate that persons make those assumptions, because there was never a note from us saying that we had a particular suspect. We have been interviewing a number of persons and even when the news broke that there was a suspect, we were talking among ourselves as investigators. There are persons of interest that we will interview, and persons, once you start to speak to somebody, somebody can run with it and say that a suspect is in custody.
“There’s no suspect in custody. There are persons of interest we are speaking to, and we will continue to do that during today (yesterday). And hopefully, we can identify somebody that we can say that is the main suspect or that is the person we’re pursuing in terms of the alleged offender,” Rodney said.
Rodney said that it is not fair to the police for persons to make statements of bias because all cases are treated equally and the police strive to solve all of them with the same vigor and the same energy.
He said that while requests have been made to regional and international agencies for assistance in solving this case, the timeline by which they would arrive on island is not known at this time.
Rodney noted that the force has been using all the resources available to it, adding that the police have gathered quite a bit of information at this initial stage of the investigation. This is the first time in the country’s history that a sitting MP has lost his life in such a horrific fashion.
“I’ve been in contact with our regional partners, those who have certain resources that we think that we might need, so we are in dialogue with them. On the international scene…we have made that request to the Government and Foreign Affairs. I was in dialogue with Foreign Affairs yesterday (Wednesday) so I think that formal request has been made for international assistance, in particular, the UK- Scotland Yard, Metropolitan Police.
“So this is in motion already. In terms of what timeline they will assist us by coming here, we’re not sure. But the discussion or the decision has been made already that we will accept that form of assistance,” the police commissioner said.
Commissioner Rodney disclosed that the foreign investigators will not only be investigating Michael’s murder, but other unsolved murders.
