Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
A High Court Judge has struck out a constitutional lawsuit from the wife of National Transformation Alliance (NTA) Political Leader Gary Griffith over her phone being allegedly wire-tapped.
Delivering a decision on Monday, High Court Judge Karen Reid upheld an application from the Office of the Attorney General to dismiss Nicole Dyer-Griffith’s case against it and former acting police commissioner McDonald Jacob.
In January, Dyer-Griffith filed the lawsuit in which she claimed that her constitutional right to respect her private and family life was breached when her cellphone was allegedly wire-tapped using the Interception of Communications Act and when the Financial Intelligence Unit of T&T began an investigation into her finances.
The AG’s Office filed an application in which it claimed that Dyer-Griffith failed to provide any evidence that her cellphone had been wire-tapped as alleged.
In her affidavit attached to the case, Dyer-Griffith claimed that in October, last year, her husband, who served as police commissioner between 2018 and 2021, claimed that he received information that her number was wire-tapped based on an alleged directive from Jacob.
In her decision, Justice Reid agreed with the AG’s Office.
“The claimant is, therefore, relying on a report made by a third party of what another third party has allegedly seen in a document or was told by yet another third party to prove as a fact that her telephone was tapped,” Justice Reid said.
“This is wholly inadmissible,” she added.
Justice Reid noted that Dyer-Griffith had to provide cogent evidence to buttress her case for it to proceed.
“It is absolutely not for the claimant to suggest that she can simply file her constitutional claim on the basis of bare allegations of unverifiable hearsay and state that it is for the defendant to supply the evidence necessary to prove or disprove her case,” Justice Reid said.
She also noted that Dyer-Griffith should have gotten her husband to provide an affidavit in which he provided the proof of the wire-tapping he claimed that he had.
Justice Reid also noted that Dyer-Griffith could not raise allegations with respect to the alleged financial investigation as she has a separate pending lawsuit over it.
In a public statement issued yesterday, Dyer-Griffith’s lawyer Martin George claimed that his client filed the case after he wrote to current Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher seeking confirmation whether her phone had been wire-tapped and received no response.
George also renewed his call for Harewood-Christopher to disclose the information despite the outcome of the case.
Dyer-Griffith was also represented by Keshavi Khoorban. Jacob was represented by Rishi Dass, SC, and Allanna Rivas, while Gilbert Peterson, SC, Vanessa Gopaul, and Vincent Jardine represented the AG’s Office.
