Justice system under fire as cops complain of delay in case

Sophia Chote -

DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions Roger Gaspard, SC, is expected to go on affidavit to confirm that evidence from the committal bundle for three police officers committed to stand trial for misconduct in office has gone missing.

At a hearing before Justice Frank Seepersad on August 25, the DPP’s attorney, Akeenie Murray, admitted that missing evidence from the committal bundle prevented the filing of an indictment. He asked for more time to file an affidavit, which the judge granted until September 29.

Murray said the missing evidence from the committal bundles received from the Judiciary had an impact on the DPP’s ability to assess the evidence to decide on filing an indictment.

Murray admitted the DPP has not gone on affidavit to outline his position since, he said, “once it reaches these proceedings, the DPP tries its best to ensure that the indictment is filed to render the matter academic.”

Police Constable Dexter Edwards, Sgt Lester Garcia and Cpl Sheldon Peterson were charged in October 2014 and committed to stand trial in January 2020. But since then, no indictment has been filed, which led them to seek the court’s intervention.

The officer’s attorney, Sophia Chote, SC, said the state of affairs was “entirely unacceptable” since “this is not new.”

“As the court would see from the exhibits to our filed affidavits, this has been the situation for a considerable period of time, and there has been no response to any of the inquiries or invitations by the claimants before they became claimants in a case before the court.

“So, and I apologise for using this word, but to come flippantly at the first case management

conference and to say, well, this is how things are done without any indication of the alacrity with which a state agency is required to move, I find that entirely unacceptable.

“And, if the affidavit were to come with some sort of sorry explanation that this has happened over the last few years, but we have a lot of work and sorry, we can't…I would be extremely disappointed.”

She also said this was a situation in which “state agencies are not being as forthright with the court as they ought to be. If it is the Judiciary's fault in terms of its record-keeping, somebody must be accountable.”

In agreeing to allow the DPP to file his affidavit, Seepersad said the justice system could not tolerate “administrative inefficiency” that leaves accused persons in limbo. “It is an untenable state of affairs when someone has been committed to stand trial, and then, whether it is because of administrative inefficiency or some other reason, the process is not expedited. That could never accord with the tenets of justice,” he said.

Seepersad suggested the court may need to summon the Judiciary’s registrar for “clarity” on what took place after the preliminary inquiry and the systems to ensure the documents are sent to the DPP’s office.

“We need to identify where the fault lies and, of course, to take remedial steps to ensure that the situation doesn’t repeat itself, because it cannot be that a judicial review application has to always be filed to catalyse movement in a matter,” he said.

Newsday reported on the missing evidence on July 14, 2024. Despite a request by the officers for a copy of the transcripts of the committal bundle to the Clerk of the Peace in the Arima Magistrates Court, there was no response. They were also forced to turn to the Office of the Ombudsman for help and were told that the transcripts were being prepared. The officers were forced to pay $6,000 for audio and transcripts of the preliminary inquiry conducted by then magistrate Indrani Cedeno in Arima and the Port of Spain magistrates' court in 2018, as the then magistrate, now a judge, was also presiding over the preliminary inquiry of the 10 men charged with the May 2014 murder of special prosecutor Dana Seetahal, SC.

The Judiciary has not been able to meet a request by the Office of the DPP to supply the transcripts of the evidence and exhibits which were tendered in Seetahal's case. Instead, the Judiciary has supplied the Office of the DPP with an electronic copy of the proceedings.

Gaspard, SC, insists on having the actual documents to file the indictment in keeping with the provisions of the Indictable Offences (Preliminary Enquiry) Act.

One of the men charged with Seetahal’s murder has filed a similar challenge about a delay by the Office of the DPP to file an indictment in their case.

On August 15, Gaspard said in the matter involving the men accused of Seetahal’s murder, his

office only received the 8,100-page electronic committal bundle from the Judiciary in early 2024.

That material is being reviewed, though Gaspard is still seeking original documents to complete his assessment. Gaspard said he was told by an official from the Judiciary that they will not be receiving the original documents, but he is continuing his efforts to obtain the original committal bundle to reconcile the electronic record. Gaspard also noted that the Judiciary has taken the position that the electronic bundle complies with the court's practice direction issued in May 2024.

In an interview, the policemen said the slow wheels of justice were too much to bear.