Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
A 21-year-old woman from Matura has been slapped with three charges in relation to the kidnapping of Jankie Satie Karim.
Guardian Media understands that Leandro Mohansingh was charged with kidnapping, false imprisonment, and negotiating a ransom by investigators late yesterday evening.
The charges came as the woman’s lawyers, led by Keron Ramkhalwhan, of Juris X Chambers, successfully pursued a habeas corpus writ challenging her continued detention on Friday.
In upholding the case, Justice Reid ordered the T&T Police Service (TTPS) to release her if they had not completed their probe and charged her by 4 pm yesterday.
In the application, Ramkhalwhan called on Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro to justify her continued detention.
He complained that although investigators had repeatedly promised to interview his client after she was detained, as Karim was rescued from a house in Rampanalgas on Monday, they failed to do so.
“The detention and continuing detention of the applicant by the respondent, his servants, and/or agents amounts to indefinite detention and is unlawful, arbitrary, and unreasonable in the circumstances,” Ramkhalwhan said.
“The applicant respectfully avers that the police are deliberately using this purported ‘pending’ interview as a false narrative to justify and prolong the Applicant’s detention,” he added.
Ramkhalwhan suggested that his client could be allowed to return home to her relatives and could be easily rearrested if investigators have sufficient evidence to charge her after completing their probe.
Guardian Media understands that police officers conducted the interview yesterday afternoon before laying the charges.
In an affidavit, obtained by Guardian Media, TTPS legal officer Chinara Harewood on Friday requested a reasonable time for investigators to complete their probe.
Harewood claimed that investigators were scheduled to interview the woman on Wednesday but had to postpone their plans as they were required to assist in a separate investigation into the kidnappings of Ryan Singh and Keeran Latchman.
Singh, 18, and 21-year-old Latchman managed to escape from a forested area of Valencia where they were held after being abducted earlier this week.
Harewood also claimed that between Tuesday and Thursday, investigators arrested five other suspects in Karim’s kidnapping.
Guardian Media could not confirm whether the other suspects had been charged alongside Mohansingh yesterday or if they remained detained pending further investigations.
She also said that they (investigators) were in the process of executing a search warrant at the woman’s home, which is located near the house where Karim was held captive.
Harewood suggested that, despite the delays, investigators would complete their probe on Friday night and seek advice from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) on possible charges, if any, for the woman.
Karim, 44, was abducted from her Spring Village, Valsayn home on July 13.
The following day, her Toyota Hilux, which was stolen by her attackers and used by them to carry her away, was found abandoned in Arouca.
A ransom demand was reportedly received by her relatives.
On Monday, a highly specialised team of police officers led by Guevarro raided the house in Rampanalgas where Karim was being held captive.
One of her abductors reportedly attempted to use her as a human shield but was shot dead by police officers. Mohansingh was reportedly held in the house.
Hours later, police officers probing the kidnapping attempted to execute a search warrant at the D’Abadie home of another suspect.
The suspect reportedly confronted the officers with a gun and was shot and killed. He was later identified as 24-year-old Zechariah Williams, of Old Piarco Road, Red Hill, D’Abadie.
Mohansingh was also represented by Shalini Sankar and Anwar Hosein.
The TTPS was also represented by Naiomi Herbert.
