Judge lashes out at police misconduct

After freeing three young men on a murder charge yesterday, trial judge Justice Paula Mae Weekes called for an investigation into the conduct of certain police officers and a Justice of the Peace in the case. Weekes said that the court was not going to be a rubber stamp for improper police conduct and called on State prosecutor Debbie Ann Bassaw to transmit her strong sentiments to the Director of Public Prosecution and to the Commissioner of Police to take whatever action they see fit. She said the State’s evidence was troubling and cause for great concern which has left an extremely sour taste in the mouth of the court. She added: “There was something rotten in Homicide that day.”

She further said that the court cannot rest its head on the pillow of judicial doubt, having questioned the credibility of these police officers. The only pity, she said, is that this entire situation shakes the very foundation and confidence the court and public need to have in the Police Service. Justice Weekes’ concerns were mainly directed against the conduct of Sgt Wayne Dick, Cpl Martin Pereira and Justice of the Peace, Ackbar Khan. She said their conduct at the very least would be a case of extreme professional negligence and incompetence, and that these unprecedented events were disturbing. After going through a voir dir, Justice Weekes ruled that the statements given by the accused were not voluntary and therefore inadmissible. The statements being the only strong evidence against the trio, the State offered no further evidence and the jury was ordered to free accused Nizan Christian, 22 and Cordell John, 26, of  Maniquite, East Dry River, and Jason Augustine, 22, of Fatima Trace, Upper Laventille Road, Laventille. They were accused of pulling Llewellyn Bovell out of a car while he was giving a young woman driving lessons around the Queen’s Park Savannah on November 2, 1999. Bovell struggled with one of his assailants and was stabbed twice in the chest. John was defended by attorneys Israel Khan SC and Ulric Skerritt. Christian by Keith Scotland and Nadia Astraph while Pamela Elder SC and Owen Hinds defended Augustine.

Two of the three accused immediately left the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain, where they were hugged by their parents and relatives. The judge noted that Dick had denied that Augustine was at the Port-of-Spain CID where he alleged that he was beaten by other police in the presence of Dick, but the station diary proved Dick wrong. Augustine had suffered from cuts on his head from a gun butt, a broken rib and other injuries about his body. But Dick said he had picked up Augustine with those injuries. Dick and Pereira testified that they  noticed Augustine’s cut on his head because of his low haircut. In Pereira’s recorded statement from Augustine, he said Augustine claimed that he had seen  Christian with a long knife, but after being cornered under cross-examination, he recanted, admitting that he had lied. That being the case, how could JP Khan authenticate the statement that it was recorded in his presence and it was given by the accused. Furthermore, the judge noted that the marks of violence would have been plainly visible on Augustine’s head and Khan should have observed that and inquired about the injuries.  She went on to list other grey areas in the State’s case and inconsistencies.