Jensen La Vende

Se­nior Re­porter

Jensen.lavende@guardian.co.tt

Act­ing Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Ju­nior Ben­jamin yes­ter­day as­sured that the in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to sus­pend­ed CoP Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher will be above board af­ter al­le­ga­tions sur­faced against the lead in­ves­ti­ga­tor.

In a 40-page doc­u­ment, Sgt Math­ew Hay­wood ac­cused a se­nior po­lice of­fi­cer in­ves­ti­gat­ing Hare­wood-Christo­pher for her al­leged in­volve­ment in the pro­cure­ment of two sniper ri­fles of per­vert­ing the course of jus­tice.

The weapons were pur­chased through lo­cal gun deal­er Luke Hadeed for the Strate­gic Ser­vices Agency (SSA).

Asked about the im­pact of the al­le­ga­tions giv­en the in­volve­ment of both Hadeed and the se­nior of­fi­cer in the crim­i­nal in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­volv­ing the top cop, Ben­jamin said one will not af­fect the oth­er.

“This is the first time that I am see­ing the doc­u­ment. I would have heard about it be­fore. I know that Hay­wood would have been in that Luke Hadeed mat­ter. If that is so, then it is a mat­ter for the Po­lice Com­plaints Di­vi­sion or the Po­lice Com­plaints Au­thor­i­ty,” he said.

Hay­wood’s doc­u­ment was sent to Hare­wood-Christo­pher, act­ing Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice Curt Si­mon, Na­tion­al Se­cu­ri­ty Min­is­ter Fitzger­ald Hinds and Po­lice Com­plaints Au­thor­i­ty (PCA).

In it he al­leges that a se­nior of­fi­cer made at­tempts to per­vert the course of jus­tice in in­struct­ing him on how to han­dle ex­hibits and failed to ad­here to the ad­vice of the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions (DPP) on how to pro­ceed against Hadeed and oth­ers.

Last week Hadeed won more than $500,000 af­ter he sued the State and Hay­wood over the search of his home, busi­ness and par­ents’ home.

High Court Judge Ava­son Quin­lan ruled that while the ini­tial search on Oc­to­ber 8, 2022, was law­ful, sub­se­quent search­es on Oc­to­ber 10, 11, 12, 15, and 17 were un­law­ful as they were con­duct­ed af­ter the war­rant had ex­pired.

Quin­lan found that Hay­wood act­ed in bad faith when ob­tain­ing and ex­e­cut­ing the war­rant, in­tend­ing to harm the claimant’s rep­u­ta­tion. The court al­so ruled that the po­lice un­law­ful­ly seized three mag­a­zines and 20 rounds of am­mu­ni­tion, which must be re­turned to the claimant.

When con­tact­ed PCA di­rec­tor David West said he could not com­ment on the mat­ter. The se­nior of­fi­cer in­volved in the Hare­wood-Christo­pher in­ves­ti­ga­tion­sand Si­mon did not re­spond to calls and mes­sages.

Ben­jamin said the is­sues raised by Hay­wood will get his at­ten­tion but as he is new to the of­fi­cer he could not com­ment much on the mat­ter. He as­sured how­ev­er, that the in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to Hare­wood-Christo­pher will not be taint­ed.

“There is a lev­el of dili­gence that must be giv­en to this kind of thing. At the end of the day it is my du­ty to en­sure that there is a thor­ough in­ves­ti­ga­tion, to fol­low pro­to­col and that there is pro­ce­dur­al fair­ness as it re­lates to this in­ves­ti­ga­tion,” he ex­plained>

Ben­jamin said all ma­jor in­ves­ti­ga­tions are done with the DPP’s guid­ance as the T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) does not op­er­ate “vikey-vie.”

“What is hap­pen­ing now con­cern­ing Madam Hare­wood-Christo­pher, every­thing goes back to the DPP and he is in­struct­ing and it is be­ing fol­lowed through to a tee be­cause again this is a se­ri­ous (mat­ter) in­volv­ing a se­nior po­lice of­fi­cer” he said.

Since Hare­wood-Christo­pher’s ar­rest on Jan­u­ary 30 and sub­se­quent re­lease on Feb­ru­ary 1, po­lice of­fi­cers vis­it­ed the DPP three times for ad­vice on how to pro­ceed with the case.

She is be­ing probed for her sup­posed in­volve­ment in the pro­cure­ment of two sniper ri­fles for the SSA and was sus­pend­ed by the Po­lice Ser­vice Com­mis­sion, which she is cur­rent­ly chal­leng­ing in court.

Last week, Par­lia­ment ap­proved Ben­jamin’s ap­point­ment to act as CoP.