Derek Achong
Six police officers, accused of murdering three friends in Moruga in 2011, will have to wait a while longer before they learn the fate of their appeal over a judge’s decision to refuse to grant them bail.
Appellate Judges Nolan Bereaux, Ronnie Boodoosingh, and Maria Wilson reserved their judgment in the appeal after hearing submission on behalf of the group, the Office of the Attorney General, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), the Law Association of T&T (LATT) and the Criminal Bar Association (CBA) during a virtual hearing on Monday morning.
In the appeal, the panel is being asked to consider whether the Court of Appeal has the jurisdiction to hear and determine cases where a High Court Judge denies bail for a person charged with murder.
Presenting submissions on the issue, the AG’s Office and DPP’s Office claimed that under the Bail Act, the Court of Appeal can only consider appeals on bail applications for lesser criminal offences after they (the applications) are first considered by a magistrate and a High Court Judge.
They claimed that since bail for murder accused can only be considered by High Court Judges and not magistrates, the segment of the legislation could not apply.
In response, lawyers for the officers, the LATT and the CBA claimed that such appeals were permitted under Section 108 of the Constitution, which gives litigants the right to appeal in cases dealing with constitutional rights.
“This is not a political issue...This is a simple matter,” the officers’ lawyer Israel Khan, SC, said in his submissions.
“If the court rules that it does not have jurisdiction, you might as well tear up the Constitution and throw it away,” he added.
After hearing the submissions, the appeal panel promised to urgently consider the case and deliver their ruling.
“We understand that the decision must be given quickly as the men have been incarcerated for almost 12 years,” Justice Bereaux said.
Sgt Khemraj Sahadeo and PCs Renaldo Reviero, Glenn Singh, Roger Nicholas, Safraz Juman, Antonio Ramadin are accused of murdering Alana Duncan, Kerron Eccles and Abigail Johnson on July 22, 2011.
Duncan, 27, of Duncan Village, San Fernando, Eccles, 29, and 20-year-old Johnson, both of St Mary’s Village, Moruga, were driving in Duncan’s vehicle when it was stopped by the officers at the corner of Rochard Douglas Road and Gunness Trace in Barrackpore.
Initial reports claimed that the friends shot at the officers, who returned fire.
A female colleague was initially charged alongside her former colleagues from the San Fernando Robbery Squad but the charge was dropped and replaced with a lesser charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice after she agreed to testify against them.
In July 2013, the officers were committed to stand trial at the end of their preliminary inquiry. A date for their trial is yet to be set.
Relatives of the three friends have brought a lawsuit against the State over their wrongful deaths and are each seeking over $2 million in compensation.
The case went to trial in 2018 but had to be reassigned to another judge after Justice Kevin Ramcharan recused himself from the case based on the fact that the families’ lawyer Keith Scotland represented him in an unrelated matter.
The case was reassigned to another High Court Judge but was not determined as he was subsequently elevated to the Court of Appeal. The case is still pending.
The officers are attempting to utilise a landmark Court of Appeal ruling on the ability of judges to consider bail for persons charged with murder, which was delivered in February and upheld by the Privy Council in July.
In the original judgment, Chief Justice Ivor Archie and Appellate Judges Mira Dean-Armorer and Malcolm Holdip ruled that Section 5(1) of the Bail Act of 1994, which precluded the grant of bail for persons accused of murder, is inconsistent with the Constitution and should be struck down.
The officers were also represented by Ulric Skerritt, and Arissa Maharaj.
The CBA was represented by Daniel Khan, Ula Nathai-Lutchman, Valensia Yansen and Gabriel Hernandez. The LATT was represented by Douglas Mendes, SC, Rajiv Persad, John Heath, Peter Carter, Aaron Mahabir and Kavita Boodoo. The AG’s Office was represented by Fyard Hosein, SC, Rishi Dass, Karen Reid-Ballantyne and Adana Hosang. Assistant DPP Nigel Pilgrim represented the DPP’s Office.