Hotel Tower staff charged for deleting CCTV footage

Three senior employees of Hotel Tower were on Friday slapped with the charge of attempting to obstruct the course of justice in relation to a shooting incident which occurred at Club Privilege last month.

Those charged are Club Privilege Manager Andre Rochford, General Manager of Hotel Tower Keisha Phillips and Technical Manager Ronald O’Brien, who all appeared before City Magistrate Judy Latchman.

The trio, who were all represented by Attorney Mark Waldron, denied the charge which stated that on January 8, 2017 at Hotel Tower Main Street, Georgetown, they attempted to obstruct the course of justice by deleting a CCTV footage that captured the shooting incident, which took place at the entity on the same date.

The Prosecution contended that the club was shut down after a shootout and thoroughly cleaned by the staff, who denied the occurrence of any such incident, but the issue came to light when a Police report was made by one of the victims, who was grazed by a bullet. Upon investigations, the Police reportedly found bullet holes in the club.

Rochford, 43, of Trinidad and Tobago is no stranger to the courts, he was previously charged with an immigration offence last month for overstaying when he pleaded guilty to a charge, which stated that he failed to comply with the conditions of a Guyana work permit.

Magistrate Latchman released the trio on $700,000 each. The case will continue on March 7, 2017.