4 Cops in Court for Assault on Pundit’s Assistant

The charge against the four alleged that they beat, robbed, kidnapped and assaulted Choon.

PCs Dennis Sooknanan, Rishi Ramroop, Kumar Balgobin and Brian Rambhajan, appeared before Magistrate Rae Roopchan in the Siparia Second Magistrate’s Court.

Sooknanan, 32, and Ramroop, 30, Balgobin, 41, and Rambhajan, 30, are attached to the E-999 mobile units in the Santa Flora and Oropouche police districts. The four are jointly charged with robbery, kidnapping and assaulting Choon. Sooknanan, however, was slapped with an additional charge of pouring kerosene on Choon.

The four cops stood with their hands behind their backs, as Magistrate Roopchan read the charges to them. In the first charge read to Sooknanan, it was alleged that on August 4, he threw a noxious fluid, namely kerosene, on Choon while at the Oropouche Police Station, with intent to do grievous bodily harm. Sooknanan was not called upon to enter a plea to that charge which was laid indictably.

The other four charges alleged that at Ackbar Trace, Siparia, the four accused cops robbed Choon of $90 in cash, assaulted him occasioning bodily harm and took and carried him away. The fourth charge alleged that they falsely imprisoned Choon at the Oropouche Police Station. Magistrate Roopchan informed the accused policemen that those four charges were laid indictably and he could not call upon them to plead.

Police prosecutor Cpl Ramkhelawan Harripersad told the court that he had not received instructions on how to proceed with the charges. He said that a State Attorney was yet to be appointed to the case.

Attorney Chaitram Sinanan, who represented the policemen, told the court that the defence was ready to begin the case. He requested disclosure of documents pertaining to the matter, in particular — Choon’s criminal record.

The four police constables were slapped with the charges on Wednesday night at the Siparia Police Station where they turned themselves in after warrants were issued for their arrest. Justice of the Peace, Dexter Soodeen, issued a total of $172,500 bail to Sooknanan to cover the five charges.

Ramroop, Balgobin and Rambhajan, were granted a total of $132,500 to cover the four charges.

The charges arose out of an alleged incident in which Choon, 49, of Ackbar Trace, Siparia, claimed that he was brutalised by four policemen while riding home on his bicycle around midnight after attending a Hindu prayer service. Choon was hospitalised that night for injuries arising out of the alleged incident.