Police inspector guilty of assault

AN acting inspector of police was yesterday remanded in custody by a San Fernando magistrate after he was found guilty of assaulting a 20-year-old woman. The inspector pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting Kerlene Cross, a single mother of Bay Road Junction, Marabella. The incident occurred on December 10, 2002. On completion of the case yesterday in the Third Magistrates’ Court, Magistrate Armina Deonarinesingh found the inspector guilty of assaulting Cross and remanded him in custody until February 10, when she will sentence him. The inspector had been out on bail during the trial in the Third Magistrates’ Court, San Fernando.

Cross testified that around 4.10 pm on December 10, 2002, she was in a telephone booth at Bay Road Junction, when the inspector pulled up in a police vehicle. The magistrate heard that two other policemen were in the vehicle when the inspector asked Cross to use the telephone. Cross testified that the inspector grabbed the telephone receiver from her hand and struck her on the face. She said her face was swollen and she sought medical treatment at the San Fernando General Hospital. The  inspector was represented by Police Welfare Association president, Cedric Neptune. Former State attorney Roger Ramgoolam, acting on a fiat, prosecuted.