SASCHA WILSON
sascha.wilson@guardian.co.tt
The State has been ordered to pay a lumber contractor $170,000 in damages in a malicious prosecution case.
Heard before Justice Kevin Ramcharan, the judge found that there was some fabrication on the part of the officer who arrested and charged the claimant, Yankaran Sankar.
Sankar was charged with removing logs without a valid permit, but the matter was dismissed five years later.
Represented by attorney Kevin Ratiram, Sankar, in his witness statement said he bought 29 logs for $12,500 from Richard Mitchell who owns lands at Cemetery Trace, off Lothians Road, Princes Town. Mitchell, he said, then gave him a removal permit.
He said on April 26, 2011, he hired a man to remove five of the logs and gave him the permit. While he was transporting the logs along the Naparima Mayaro Road, near the Princes Town Police Station, SRP Kip Daniel stopped the truck. When Sankar arrived at the scene, he saw the officer holding the permit.
He said the officer asked him if he was the owner of the five logs. Sankar explained that he bought the logs from Mitchell and he had the receipt as proof. He complied with the officer's demand to see the receipt, but the officer kept it.
Sankar said the logs bore stamps from the Forestry Division and were initialled "RM." The officer then indicated that he was seizing the logs, and told the truck driver to drive the truck to the Forestry Division in San Fernando. When Sankar asked the officer the reason for this, he claimed the officer said, "Doh ask me nothing."
Sankar also went to the office where the logs were offloaded. Sankar said he again inquired why the logs were being seized, but the officer replied, "When you go to court, you will find out."
The following day he received a summons to attend the Princes Town Second Magistrates Court on July 29, 2011. When he appeared in court, he learnt that he had been charged by Daniel with removing five cedar logs from private land without a valid private removal permit being issued. Sankar retained attorney Ratiram and on March 13, 2016, the matter was fixed for trial.
However, Sankar said the officer never showed up even though the prosecutor indicated that he had served him with a notice to attend court and informed him that the matter was fixed for trial on that day. The magistrate dismissed the case for want of prosecution.
However, the logs were never returned to him. In his witness statement, Mitchell, the landowner, said a Forester from the Forestry Division stamped the 29 logs, he (Mitchell) placed his initials and the Forester issued him with a removal permit.
He then sold the 29 logs to the Sankar and gave him the permit. Mitchell said he never met or spoke to SRP Daniel. The officer who has over 12 years of service and is also a Forester based at the Forestry Division in San Fernando, said he knew the claimant and the truck driver prior to the incident because they frequented the Forestry office to conduct business as woodworkers.
In his witness statement, he claimed that the logs were not stamped and their measurements did not coincide with any of the 29 measurements listed on the permits. He denied that Sankar gave him the receipt for the logs. Additionally, Daniel claimed the permit was for the removal of logs from Lothians Road, not Cemetary Street, but both Sankar and Mitchell said that area is referred to as Lothians Road.
The officer also claimed that he spoke with Mitchell on April 27, 2011, but this was denied by Mitchell. The officer said he was absent on the date of the trial because he was not served a notice by the prosecutor and he was dealing with a similar matter involving 112 logs on the same day.
The state was represented by attorney Natoya Moore instructed by Kadine Matthew.
