East Dry River man sues cops

An East Dry River man is suing the police for wrongful arrest. Marvin Agard was arrested in June for a second time on a warrant which had been issued for his arrest and already executed on him in 2000, to serve a jail term of three years. Through his attorney Larry Lalla, Agard filed a summons writ yesterday in the Registry of the Port-of-Spain High Court, claiming damages for his arrest and his three days illegal detention at the Port-of-Spain CID. According to Agard’s statement of claim, he was charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking on October 30, 1998. On November 2, 1998, he appeared before Magistrate Debra Thomas Felix in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Magistrates’ Court, where he pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to three years hard labour. Agard appealed the sentence and was allowed bail in the sum of $100,000.

In 1999 his appeal came up, but Agard failed to attend the hearing and his sentence was affirmed and a warrant issued for his arrest. On January 7, 2000, Agard was arrested and taken to the Besson Street Police Station. A warrant for his arrest to serve his term of imprisonment was read to him at the station by a police officer, and he was taken to prison to serve his sentence. He served his sentence and was released around January 2002. However, on June 18, 2004 at about 3.30 pm, Agard was again arrested outside his Rose Hill home in East Dry River. He alleged that the combined Police/Army party then searched his home without any reasonable cause or his permission to search. Included in the police party was the same policeman who had read the warrant to him in 2000.