Sascha Wil­son

Se­nior Re­porter

sascha.wil­son@guardian.co.tt

It took the po­lice over two decades to ex­e­cute a war­rant to ar­rest a man for mak­ing bush rum or babash.

Due to the lack of ev­i­dence, how­ev­er, the mat­ter was dis­missed af­ter three hear­ings.

Nim­chan Sinanan, 49, was ar­rest­ed on a war­rant and ap­peared in the Ch­agua­nas Dis­trict Court on Feb­ru­ary 7. He plead­ed not guilty and was grant­ed $10,000 own bail. The charge al­leged that on Oc­to­ber 9, 2003, he had in his pos­ses­sion, spir­its be­lieved to have been un­law­ful­ly made.

The mat­ter was again called on March 6 and ad­journed.

When the mat­ter came up be­fore Sec­ond Mag­is­trate Du­ane Mur­ray on Mon­day, the po­lice com­plainant was ab­sent.

The pros­e­cu­tor did not have a file, the ex­hib­it, or foren­sic ev­i­dence.

Sinanan’s at­tor­ney Shi­va Boodoo said Sinanan was un­aware of the war­rant’s ex­is­tence and could have been eas­i­ly found by the po­lice, es­pe­cial­ly since he had worked for a road paving com­pa­ny for over 20 years. He said Sinanan did not have a crim­i­nal record. Giv­en the cir­cum­stances, he asked that the mat­ter be dis­missed. In 2003, Sinanan’s rel­a­tive was ar­rest­ed and charged for the same of­fence, and sub­se­quent­ly put on a bond.