$.36M windfall for two men wrongfully charged

Two awards in the sum of $10,000 each for malicious prosecution were increased yesterday to $180,000 each by the Court of Appeal. Anthony Sorzano and Steve Mitchell were the recipients of these awards. Both men were charged with the murder of Peter Hercules and the attempted murder of Anslem Arnasalam in 1988. At the conclusion of the preliminary inquiry, they were only committed to stand trial for the attempted murder of Arnasalam, and were given bail. However, the Director of Public Prosecution indicted them for the murder of Hercules, and they were once again tossed in jail as murder is not a bailable offence.

On June 26, 1995, both men were acquitted in the Assizes of both charges and released from custody. They had spent a total of 155 days in custody during the inquiry and 230 days in custody awaiting trial. They later sued the Attorney General and Dawson Victor for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. The AG failed to enter a defence and Justice Annestine Sealey, on May 9, 1997, entered judgment against the AG and Victor with damages to be assessed. The assessment proceeded before a Master of the Court and awards were made for both claims.

However, in respect of malicious prosecution, the Master awarded each of them $10,000 as general damages. Sorzano and Mitchell contended it was too low and through their attorney, Desmond Allum SC, appealed the award. The matter came up before Justices of Appeal Lionel Jones, Wendell Kangaloo and Alan Mendonca. The judgment, which was delivered by Justice Mendonca, said that in the circumstances, he considered that an appropriate award as general damages for malicious prosecution to be $180,000 in respect of each appellant.