derek.achong@guardian.co.tt
Six police officers accused of murdering three friends in Moruga in 2011 have failed in their bid to be granted bail pending their eventual trial.
During a hearing on Thursday, High Court Judge Norton Jack declined to use his discretion to grant the bail applications of the group of police officers, which were brought based on a landmark judgement from the Court of Appeal over the ability of judicial officers to consider bail for the capital offence.
Sgt Khemraj Sahadeo and PCs Renaldo Reviero, Glenn Singh, Roger Nicholas, Safraz Juman, Antonio Ramadin are accused of murdering Alana Duncan, Kerron Eccles and Abigail Johnson on July 22, 2011.
Duncan, 27, of Duncan Village, San Fernando, Eccles, 29, and 20-year-old Johnson, both of St Mary’s Village, Moruga, were driving in Duncan’s vehicle when it was stopped by the officers at the corner of Rochard Douglas Road and Gunness Trace in Barrackpore. Initial reports claimed that the friends shot at the officers, who returned fire.
A WPC was initially charged alongside her former colleagues from the San Fernando Robbery Squad, but the charges were dropped after she agreed to testify against them. She was instead charged with conspiring to pervert the course of justice under her plea agreement.
The deaths of the three friends sparked heated protests in Moruga.
In July 2013, the officers were committed to stand trial at the end of their preliminary inquiry. A date for their trial is yet to be set.
Relatives of the three friends have brought a lawsuit against the State over their wrongful deaths and are each seeking over $2 million in compensation.
The case went to trial in 2018 but had to be reassigned to another judge after Justice Kevin Ramcharan recused himself from the case, based on the fact that the families’ lawyer, Keith Scotland, represented him in an unrelated matter.
The case was then reassigned to another High Court Judge but was not determined, as he was subsequently elevated to the Court of Appeal. The case is still pending.
The families are also represented by Joel Roper.
The officers, meanwhile, are being represented by Senior Counsel Israel Khan.
In November 2020, High Court Judge Ricky Rahim rejected a lawsuit from Juman over an alleged move by former police commissioner Gary Griffith to terminate his services.
Justice Rahim ruled that the lawsuit was premature, as Griffith did not terminate him but merely indicated his intention to commence the process to either dismiss him based on inefficiency or retire him in the public interest.
Justice Rahim also gave advice to Griffith on how the process could be lawfully conducted.
The WPC, who was made a State witness in the case, has also sued Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard for failing to continue plea discussions with her over financial support after her colleagues’ eventual trial.
Through the lawsuit, the officer is also seeking an order for arrangements to be made for her family to leave the country after the trial. That case is also pending.
This development comes just days after eight police officers appeared in court and were remanded in custody after they were accused of murdering three men from Morvant in 2020.
Their deaths also ignited fiery protests in Port-of-Spain by residents of Morvant, east Port-of-Spain and Beetham.
