By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ROBERT Wright Sr says he never doubted his son was murdered. For three years, he has fought to prove it. On Monday, a jury finally agreed, ruling that the death of Police Constable Robert Wright Jr was no suicide but a homicide.

“I am going to be seeking justice,” Mr Wright said, his voice resolute after the inquest verdict overturned the police’s original classification of suicide. “The murderer needs to be found. No question.”

Constable Wright Jr, 23, was found dead in his car with a gunshot wound to the head on May 14, 2021. His service weapon was in his right hand. Police said it was suicide. His father, a former officer himself, insisted from the beginning that wasn’t true.

“I am very thankful that the jury got it right,” he said. “There are too many cases where young men in this country, young officers are allegedly being murdered, and it go unnoticed.”

Now emboldened by the inquest’s findings, Mr Wright is calling for accountability, both for whoever pulled the trigger, and for those he says failed his son in the aftermath.

“One thing, when my son was murdered, Paul Rolle was Commissioner of Police, and he went on national TV and said my son was weak. I will never forgive him for that. That’s my squadmate,” he said.

He also revealed that he had received a call from the Commissioner’s Office two years ago, asking him to confirm the suicide ruling. “They wanted me to go to the office to sign that my son committed suicide, but I refused to, and I contacted my lawyer,” he said.

Mr Wright has harsh words for the police handling of the case.

“From the day my son was murdered up to today’s date, no police come to me to take a statement from me or ask me my opinion,” he said. “No one did, and that is poor investigation. I am an ex-police officer; they completely dropped the ball on the whole thing.”

He said he went to three different Assistant Commissioners of Police in Grand Bahama, but all said the matter was “above their pay grade.”

His frustration extended to the press, including The Tribune, over reports that his son had mental health struggles. “I saw in The Tribune, y’all say my son had a mental problem. My son did not have a mental problem. He was of sound mind. And my wife was totally upset with that, and she wants that to be retracted,” he said.

He said on the day his son was reported missing, it was the family, not the police, who discovered his body in Deadman’s Reef.

Mr Wright also claimed discrepancies between the scene photos he took and those shown in court.

“The police photos have the gun in my son’s right hand. My photo shows the gun on the floor on the right-hand side, next to some chicken souse,” he said.

He added that his son was left-handed and said original photos showed him still wearing his bulletproof vest, while police images did not.

He mentioned hearing from someone who allegedly saw a police vehicle near RJ’s car before a gunshot rang out but offered no further evidence.

What troubled him most, he said, was the lead investigator’s own testimony in court. “The most disappointing thing was to sit in court and hear the lead investigating officer say the case started on the 14th of May when my son died and closed on May 27 with the finding that my son committed suicide,” he said.

He credited his brother, attorney Kendal Wright, for helping navigate the inquest process and says the family won’t stop until there’s full accountability.

“At the end of the day, we are going to seek justice for RJ, my son,” he said.