PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) — Two people, including a 36-year-old woman, will return to court on April 18 after they were charged with murder and illegally disposing of the body of woman police officer Nyasha Joseph, whose body was fished out of the sea last week.

Melissa and Kenneth Browne (not relatives) appeared before Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers Caesar in the Port of Spain Eighth Court yesterday, less than 24 hours after the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had given police the go-ahead to charge them.

Kenneth Browne, 36, is charged with knowingly assisting in the murder of the police officer and illegally disposing of a body, while Melissa Browne, 36, charged with murdering WPC Joseph sometime between March 8 and March 16 at Sea Lots, just on the outskirts of the capital. She was not required to plead as the charge was laid indictably.

The police woman had been reported missing on March 8, and her body was found by a fisherman in Gulf of Paria on March 16. The cause of her death could not be determined by the pathologist.

Police said that the accused are not married but have a relationship.

Defence Attorney Criston J Williams told the court that he had written to the commissioner of police and the head of the Police Complaints Authority requesting an investigation into the conduct of the police officers during their probe.

He said the officers used unfair interrogation techniques and were disrespectful to the lawyers representing the accused.

Williams said that when he and other attorneys attempted to meet with the accused during the investigation, the officers resisted and claimed that one police officer placed his hands on him (Williams) in an attempt to push him away.

Williams said his clients’ fundamental rights had been breached.