Last night, we showed you the meeting between the Ministry of Home Affairs, the police senior command, the Ahmad family, and representatives of the local Muslim Community. The two sides were attempting to defuse tensions between the state and the citizens aggrieved by the murder of Fareed Ahmad.
When it was done, it appeared that the chasm of ill will and misunderstanding between both sides had been bridged somewhat, even if not completely.
But there are fundamental sticking points, and here's one of them. Tonight, the Ahmad Family is rejecting the suggestion that the police have surveillance video which shows that Fareed picked up Police Constable Michelle Brown hours before he was killed.
For context, we re-visit a portion of our interview with Home Affairs Minister Wilfred Elrington who spoke on this video. Here's how he put it:
Hon. Wilfred Elrington - Minister of Home Affairs
"He went on to say, and I did not know, that it was in fact the deceased who picked up the police woman and there is in fact a video of them being together for some time. He suggested to me, a number of hours, and there was no indication during that course of time that any other person from any branch of the police force was anywhere nearby. He was satisfied that based on the evidence, there is no indication that the state had anything to do with the death or that the police had anything to do with the death."
Now, as viewers are aware, those comments suggests that Fareed was in the consensual company of the woman, now accused of his murder, for hours.
Well, his family is disputing the police's interpretation of the surveillance video. This morning, they sent us a text message reacting to it, after they got to see it. That statement says, quote, "The Ahmad's family once again calls on the investigative team and our leaders to desist from generating and misrepresenting information regarding the murder of Fareed Ahmad. The video that the police showed us (that they obtained from a business near the roundabout at mile 2 1/2 on the George Price Highway) DOES NOT SHOW nor CONFIRM that the female was picked up by Fareed. In fact, it does not show Fareed nor the female any at all. Deductions and assumptions can be made but it should be clearly stated that it is an assumption rather than facts. Information continues to be presented as factual which has lead the family and the public to question how objective the investigation is, hence, again requesting for an independent one."
So, from the family's perspective, the video does not assist much, and so they are instead waiting on the phone records that police have requested from the telephone company.
Their statement concludes, "...The Family awaits the results of the phone records and the correspondence from the Minister regarding our family's ongoing surveillance and the purpose of the raid in 2016."
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