Judge orders Regiment to re-enlist soldier

A SAN FERNANDO High Court judge yesterday ordered the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment to re-enlist a soldier forthwith back into the army. Russell Joseph, of Guaico Tamana Road in Sangre Grande, was discharged from the army in 1996 at the rank of corporal after allegations that he confessed to stealing rations from the barracks. Joseph filed a constitutional motion challenging the action against him by the Regiment. Justice Gregory Smith ruled in that motion that Joseph’s rights were infringed, but due to the fact that Joseph, in his court action, did not seek reinstatement, Justice Smith was unable to order him to be reinstated.

Joseph subsequently filed a judicial review application in January. In the review, filed by attorney Anand Ramlogan, Joseph sought reinstatement based on a letter sent by Chief of Defence Staff Brigadier Ancil Antoine to the National Security Ministry, which stated Brigadier Antoine was prepared to reinstate Joseph. In his application, Joseph pleaded that he continued to remain out of the army for the past eight years. The State challenged the lawsuit for reinstatement and, in an affidavit filed in response, Brigadier Antoine stated that he mistakenly stated in his letter to the Ministry of National Security, that he was prepared to reinstate Joseph.

“I mistakenly said that I was prepared to approve his reinstatement rather than re-enlistment,” Antoine stated. In a judgment delivered yesterday at San Fernando High Court, Justice Sebastien Ventour ordered Joseph be re-enlisted into the army, and not reinstated. As such, Joseph, 42, will have to begin as a fresh soldier in the Regiment. Speaking to Newsday after the ruling, Joseph said, “I’m a soldier and will remain one. I hope the authorities will look beyond this court case and grant me an opportunity to serve based on the skills I have acquired.”