Senior Reporter
derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
The State has conceded that police officers acted illegally in their controversial arrest of firearm dealer Brent Thomas in Barbados and his subsequent return to this country in October 2022.
The admission was made by lawyers for the Office of the Attorney General as they presented submissions in an appeal over a decision by High Court Judge Devindra Rampersad to uphold Thomas’ lawsuit over his forced deportation and police probe into him and his company, Specialist Shooters Training Centre Limited.
Presenting submissions at the Waterfront Judicial Centre in Port-of-Spain yesterday morning, King’s Counsel Peter Knox claimed that the officers’ unlawful actions were based on a legitimate belief that Thomas was seeking to flee the country while under investigation.
“They (the police) acted wrongly, but they did not act maliciously,” Knox said. While he accepted that Justice Rampersad was entitled to make the findings he did in relation to Thomas’ arrest and extradition and order compensation, he suggested that they (the findings) should have been made against the T&T Police Service (TTPS) and not the State.
Knox claimed that the judge overstepped in staying the criminal charges against Thomas and making adverse findings in relation to the probe that led to the charges. Knox claimed that there was evidence that Thomas was found in possession of three prohibited automatic rifles and six non-lethal grenades, which led to him being charged. He claimed that two of the rifles were listed on Thomas’ firearm user’s licence (FUL) but one was not.
“We are not saying this is conclusive of anything, but there is something to look at,” Knox said.
He suggested that Justice Rampersad should have been more cautious to avoid trespassing on the power of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in relation to criminal prosecutions.
“It is not for a constitutional court to interfere in matters like this. You do not have the constitutional right not to be prosecuted,” he said.
Knox also took issue with Justice Rampersad’s findings in relation to a series of search warrants used to raid Thomas’ Maraval home and his business. He suggested that Thomas’ lawyer should have filed the case against the Justice of the Peace (JP) that granted the warrants.
DPP: Judge misconstrued Firearms Act
In his submissions, Senior Counsel Ian Benjamin, who led the legal team for the DPP’s Office, claimed that the judge misconstrued the Firearms Act when he questioned how Thomas could be charged for possession of the weapons that he was granted permission to import by the Office of the Police Commissioner.
Benjamin pointed out that under the legislation, the Police Commissioner did not have the power to grant permission to citizens for the importation and possession of prohibited weapons, which can only be lawfully held by police officers, members of the T&T Defence Force (TTDF), certain staff at the Forensic Science Centre, and prison and customs officers.
He suggested that Thomas had been wrongfully granted permission by successive commissioners in the past. “He (the judge) did not construe the provisions at all ... There was no foundation or reasoning,” Benjamin said. Benjamin stated that there was a strong public interest in allowing the charges against Thomas to proceed.
“I do not have to say anything about the havoc caused by guns and ammunition in T&T,” he said.
Hosein: My client should not have been prosecuted
In his submissions, Thomas’ lawyer, Fyard Hosein, called on the appeal panel to uphold their colleague’s judgment. Hosein admitted that the commissioner did not have the power to allow the importation and possession of prohibited weapons, as he pointed out that his client refused to receive the rifles and grenades after Justice Rampersad ordered their release, last year.
He suggested that his client should not have been prosecuted for the legal loophole that was used by five police commissioners to get him to supply weapons and ammunition to local law enforcement agencies for almost two decades. Hosein noted that the rifles and grenades, which he claimed were all listed on the FUL’s held by Thomas and his business, were kept for demonstration purposes.
He also suggested that instead of prosecuting him, the investigators could have requested that the Police Commissioner revoke the import licence and FUL records for the weapons and seize them.
Dealing with Thomas’ detention in Barbados, Hosein claimed that the findings had to be made against the State as the AG’s office failed to disclose whether any government official assisted or facilitated his forced return to T&T.
“We do not know who is truly responsible for this ghastly deed,” he said. He noted that police officers were aware that Thomas had travelled to Barbados in transit to the United States to seek medical attention when they took the action. Referring to several international cases in which prosecutions for serious offences, including terrorism, were stayed due to similar illegal extraditions, Hosein suggested that the judge was right to halt the case against Thomas.
According to reports, in August 2022, TTPS officers executed a series of search warrants on Thomas. He was initially detained by local police officers on September 29 but was released several days later after High Court Judge Avason Quinlan-Williams upheld a lawsuit over the inability of the TTPS to justify his continued detention
The following day, Thomas travelled to Barbados to visit his specialist doctor. On October 5, he was arrested by heavily armed Barbados police at his hotel room. Thomas was briefly detained before being transported to the Grantley Adams International Airport, where he was handed over to ASP Birch and another officer, who had previously executed some of the search warrants on his business and home.
Thomas was returned to Trinidad on a light aircraft subsequently linked to the Regional Security Services (RSS) and was charged with seven firearm offences related to the rifles and grenades under corresponding arrest warrants.
The Barbados Government has also accepted liability for the role of its officials involved in Thomas’ arrest. In late April last year, Justice Rampersad upheld Thomas’ case. He ordered compensation for the breaches of his constitutional rights and for his illegal arrest and detention.
A date for the assessment of the compensation is yet to be set, with such likely to take place only if Justice Rampersad’s judgment is upheld on appeal.
Appellate judges Prakash Moosai, Charmaine Pemberton, and Mira Dean Armorer reserved their decision on the appeal after yesterday’s hearing. Thomas was also represented by Anil Maraj and Aadam Hosein. Gilbert Peterson, SC, and Vanessa Gopaul appeared alongside Knox for the State.