Over a decade after her husband was killed in a car crash, which left her and her two young sons injured, a widow from south Trinidad has won a landmark lawsuit over the police’s handling of the case against the truck driver, who caused the accident.
High Court Judge Kevin Ramcharan ordered $500,000 compensation for Maureen Dilchan-Maharajh as he upheld her constitutional motion against the Office of the Attorney General on Tuesday.
Dilchan-Maharajh’s husband, Rajkumar, died on August 15, 2011, after being involved in a head-on collision with a truck in Manzanilla.
Dilchan-Maharaj and the couple’s two sons were seriously injured in the crash but survived.
The truck driver was eventually charged with causing her husband’s death by dangerous driving.
In March 2017, the charge was dismissed by a magistrate after Cpl Dindial Joseph, who served as police complainant in the case, failed to attend ten hearings.
Dilchan-Maharajh was not informed of the outcome and only learned what transpired when she visited the court to enquire about the status of the case in late 2017.
Disciplinary proceedings were brought against Cpl Joseph, but they were eventually dismissed after he provided a sick leave certificate excusing him from work on the date of the hearing, in which the magistrate decided to dismiss the case against the driver.
In 2023, Dilchan-Maharajh, through her lawyers led by Anand Ramlogan, SC, of Freedom Law Chambers, filed a novel lawsuit claiming that her rights to protection of the law and procedural mechanisms to give effect to her rights under sections 4(b) and 5(2)(h) of the Constitution were infringed by the outcomes of the criminal case and disciplinary charges.
Their pursuit of the case was delayed as they were forced to bring numerous applications under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the disclosure of information and documents related to the criminal proceedings and disciplinary case.
In his judgment, sent via email, Justice Ramcharan only upheld her claim about the criminal case.
“He (Cpl Joseph) may have had a proper reason for his non-attendance on the occasion that the matter was dismissed, but it was clearly that the unexplained non-attendance over the course of the proceedings that contributed to the dismissal on that day,” Justice Ramcharan said.
He also pointed out that the officer failed to serve a summons on Dilchan-Maharajh for her to attend court to testify.
“Had they been served on the witnesses, it is possible that the matter would not have been dismissed in the manner in which it was,” he said.
He also found that there is no proper mechanism to ensure that police officers attend court hearings and provide proper reasons for their absence.
Justice Ramcharan ruled that her claim in relation to the disciplinary charges could not succeed. He also rejected a preliminary objection from the State over whether she was entitled to pursue the case.
“The Claimant was both a direct victim of the alleged crime as she was a passenger in the vehicle when the accident occurred, and indirectly, she is the widow of the deceased,” he said.
The judge ordered $350,000 in general damages and $150,000 in vindicatory damages. He also ordered the State to pay her legal costs for pursuing the lawsuit.
‘Don’t sit down,
stand up for your rights’
In a brief but emotional interview with Guardian Media yesterday afternoon, Dilchan-Maharajh said that she was happy with the outcome after enduring the trauma of the accident and the criminal justice system.
“The police, the State and the judge all failed me. They all failed my family. It will be 14 years since the incident in August. It had been a nightmare,” she said.
She noted that she and her younger son, whose 10th birthday the family were on their way to celebrate when the accident occurred, had never fully recovered from the injuries they sustained.
“It is really terrible. Every day it is another injury acting up,” she said.
She also noted that she has had a phobia of travelling in cars since the accident.
“My trauma is so bad I don’t like to be in a vehicle. The one of the only places that I go is the hospital,” she said.
She said that despite the challenges she and her sons faced, they were able to succeed in their studies, with her elder son qualifying as a doctor and her younger son doing well in university.
“He (her husband) would be very proud. He always wanted our children to have a good education,” she said.
Dilchan-Maharajh expressed hope that the case would inspire other victims, who were left despondent due to the criminal justice system.
“Even though it can’t bring back my husband and can’t take away the trauma we face in daily life, it would help other people. I am willing to go the mile to let people know, don’t sit down, stand up for your rights, and do what you have to do,” she said.
Dilchan-Maharajh was also represented by Jayanti Lutchmedial, Kent Samlal, Jared Jagroo, Natasha Bisram, and Jochelle Lootawan.