Port workers freed on ‘incredible’ evidence

When Magistrate Maureen Gafoor dismissed a charge against two Port Authority workers, she said she found the evidence of port police Edson Letren, “highly incredible.” Letren’s case against Humphrey Kalloo, a senior Port Authority worker with over 30 years service, and auto electrician Narvin Ramoutar, with six years service, was so flimsy that a police corporal at Central Police Station did not want to touch it. Letren had charged the two men with interfering with a car. He suggested they were trying to steal a tape deck from a foreign-used car which was being off-loaded on the docks on the night of October 31, 2003.

Kalloo was the “key officer” and his job was to supervise vehicles while they were being off-loaded to ensure they were not damaged. On the night in question, Kalloo said he noticed a tape deck loose in one of the vehicles and told the mechanical garage foreman Hilton Scott he was bringing a car to have a deck fixed. On arrival, Scott told him to check Ramoutar. While Ramoutar was working on the vehicle, Letren arrived and, with a gun in hand, made racial comments and ordered Kalloo and Ramoutar to accompany him. Letren eventually took the men to Central Police Station to lay charges, but after a Cpl Joseph heard the facts he decided there was no case against the men and told them to go. He allegedly suggested that the matter be handled departmentally. In spite of that, Letren still brought charges against the two.

In court, Letren testified that Kalloo and  Ramoutar had confessed to him and begged him for a chance. This was denied, however. At the end of the trial, Israel Khan SC, who represented both men, submitted the prosecution had failed to make out a case against his clients. Magistrate Gafoor agreed with him, noting that while Letren may have suspected that the men were interfering with the vehicle, he had information that Kalloo had asked for an electrician to fix the deck. She said she found it highly incredible that the officer said these two defendants begged him for a chance and also confessed to him. Magistrate Gafoor also recalled that not a single note was taken in Letren’s pocket diary or in the station diary about this. Letren had earlier admitted under cross-examination by Khan that he was aware of the Judges Rule but did not follow them. The Judges Rule provides guidelines to follow when both written and oral statements are made.