Em­bat­tled Po­lice Com­mis­sion­er Er­la Hare­wood-Christo­pher has been re­fused an in­junc­tion over a de­ci­sion by the Po­lice Ser­vice Com­mis­sion (PolSC) to rec­om­mend that she be tem­porar­i­ly re­placed by Deputy Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice (DCP) Ju­nior Ben­jamin while she re­mains un­der sus­pen­sion as part of an on­go­ing crim­i­nal in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

High Court Judge Christo­pher Sieuc­hand dis­missed the ap­pli­ca­tion af­ter hear­ing lengthy sub­mis­sions from lawyers for Hare­wood-Christo­pher and the com­mis­sion dur­ing a vir­tu­al hear­ing this af­ter­noon.

His de­ci­sion came al­most an hour af­ter the House of Rep­re­sen­ta­tives de­bat­ed and ap­proved the com­mis­sion’s rec­om­men­da­tion re­lat­ed to Ben­jamin.

He ruled that the in­junc­tion, which would have left the post va­cant while the probe was on­go­ing, was in­ap­pro­pri­ate in the cir­cum­stances.

“The pow­ers of the Com­mis­sion­er of Po­lice are there for a rea­son and some­one must be there to dis­charge it,” he said.

De­spite his de­ci­sion on the in­junc­tion, Jus­tice Sieuc­hand grant­ed her leave to pur­sue her sub­stan­tive case over her sus­pen­sion as he ruled that she had an ar­guable case with a re­al­is­tic prospect of suc­cess.

Last Thurs­day, Hare­wood-Christo­pher was ar­rest­ed and de­tained by in­ves­ti­ga­tors led by DCP Suzette Mar­tin.

Her ar­rest was in re­la­tion to a probe in­to the im­por­ta­tion of two sniper ri­fles in­tend­ed for the Strate­gic Ser­vices Agency (SSA).

The com­mis­sion in­formed Hare­wood-Christo­pher of her sus­pen­sion hours af­ter she was re­leased from cus­tody pend­ing fur­ther in­ves­ti­ga­tions on Sat­ur­day.

Her lawyers led by Se­nior Coun­sel Pamela El­der called on the com­mis­sion to re­verse its de­ci­sion be­fore they filed the case and as­so­ci­at­ed in­junc­tion ap­pli­ca­tion.

In the ju­di­cial re­view law­suit, filed ear­li­er to­day, Hare­wood-Christo­pher’s lawyers chal­lenged the le­gal­i­ty of the com­mis­sion’s de­ci­sion to sus­pend her.

How­ev­er, they on­ly sought an in­junc­tion in re­la­tion to its rec­om­men­da­tion to ap­point Ben­jamin and not over her sus­pen­sion.