Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Triple murder accused Azmon Alexander will have to pay $14,000 to the State for his failed lawsuit for a beating he allegedly suffered at the Arima Magistrates’ Court almost a decade ago.
High Court Judge Ricky Rahim ordered Alexander to pay the State’s legal costs when he dismissed his assault and battery case yesterday morning.
The lawsuit centred around an incident in the holding cells at the courthouse on December 15, 2014.
Testifying in the trial, last year, Alexander claimed the incident occurred when he made his second court appearance after undergoing a court-ordered mental health evaluation at the St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital.
He said he was initially placed by himself in a cell reserved for female prisoners due to concerns about his safety expressed during his first court appearance. He claimed that while being escorted back to the cells after making his court appearance, he was questioned by PC Marvin Theodore about the crimes he was accused of.
Alexander said after he refused to respond, Theodore, who he knew as they came from the same village, punched him in his face. He alleged that Theodore placed him in a holding cell with other prisoners, who beat and stabbed him several times and the attack only ended when Theodore and his colleagues intervened.
He claimed his injuries included a broken nose, a chipped tooth and stab wounds to his back.
Theodore denied any wrongdoing as he claimed he never punched Alexander. He said several months after the incident, he met Alexander during another court appearance.
He claimed Alexander apologised for implicating him and admitted that he did so because Theodore was the only police officer at the court he knew by name.
In determining the case, Justice Rahim ruled that Alexander’s claims were highly implausible.
“Surely it is reasonable to conclude that Theodore would not have taken the chance to so act in front of his colleagues who themselves had no interest to serve in the case,” Justice Rahim said.
He also questioned why the prisoners chose to attack Alexander after they all appeared in court when the evidence revealed that he was in the cell when they arrived at the courthouse that morning.
“If it was the case that they were bent on beating him because of the allegation of murder of the child then why not do it then and there when they joined him in the cells,” he said.
He also pointed out that the magistrate made no note of security concerns and Alexander was not initially placed in the female prisoner cell as claimed.
Alexander is accused of 64 charges arising out of the kidnapping of a Brasso Seco family in October 2014.
Irma Rampersad, 49, her daughters Janelle and Felicia, Janelle’s baby Shania Amoroso and their 52-year-old next-door neighbour Felix Martinez went missing on October 26. After consecutive searches by teams of police and soldiers for almost two weeks, Martinez’s body was found in a forested area near their home on November 8.
Three days later, Rampersad and her granddaughter’s decomposing bodies were found stuffed in a duffel bag a short distance away from where Martinez was found.
A week later, as police were expecting to stumble on the teenage sisters’ bodies, the girls were found restrained in a makeshift camp built in the forested area. Hours later, Alexander’s 17-year-old relative, who is facing charges for assisting Alexander, surrendered to police.
Days later, Alexander, who reportedly evaded police by disguising himself as a woman, was arrested near his mother’s home in Malabar, Arima.
The case is currently before a High Court Master who will have to complete a sufficiency hearing before deciding whether to commit him to stand trial.
In addition to the charges related to this case, Alexander also has dozens of pending charges dating as far back as 2004 including the kidnapping of a girl several years ago and escaping from the Mayaro Magistrate Court while appearing on an unrelated charge.
Alexander was represented by Sterling John, Aaron Seaton, and Fareed Ali. The Office of the Attorney General was represented by Maria Belmar-Williams and Svetlana Dass.
