Arouca ambush Prisons boss holds special security talks as officer gunned down

Monday, November 9th 2009

 

A high-powered meeting involving various units within the Police Service and acting Commissioner of Prisons Martin Martinez, was held yesterday to discuss protective measures for prisons officers, in the wake of an attack in Arouca which left one officer dead.

The meeting, which was deemed high priority by officials, took place mere hours after the shooting death of prisons officer Ian Seegobin.

Seegobin, 34, of St Helena Village, Caroni, was attached to the Golden Grove Prison in Arouca. He had a total of 13 years, service.

According to police reports, at around 8.30 p.m. on Saturday, Seegobin was visiting relatives at Cemetery Street, Five Rivers, Arouca, when a car pulled alongside him. Two men emerged and started shooting at him. The men then drove off, leaving Seegobin bleeding on the ground from four gunshot wounds.

Speaking with the Express yesterday, Martinez, who along with several senior prison and police officers visited the murder scene, said: ’Everyone remains shaken by what occurred. Just the other day one of my officers was shot and now another has been murdered. Everyone remains traumatised by what occurred.’

Martinez said information they received revealed that Seegobin was assassinated following a ’hit’ called from within the prison walls. Saying robbery had been ruled out as a motive for the crime, Martinez said he knew Seegobin personally and will always remember the slain officer ’as being a jovial, committed individual who took pride in doing his job’.

’He was literally cut down in the prime of his life,’ Martinez said.

Seegobin, he said, was one of the many officers who was championing the eradication of illicit activities within the prison. Martinez said he was not aware that Seegobin had reported any threats on his life.

At Seegobin’s Caroni home yesterday, his father, Errol, told reporters that he was at a loss as to the reason behind his son’s killing.

Seegobin’s killing also came hours after another officer attached to the Maximum Security Prison in Arouca was held with contraband items at the facility on Saturday.

Investigations into Seegobin’s killing are continuing. His killing took the murder toll to 445 for the year.