Derek Achong

The T&T Po­lice Ser­vice (TTPS) has been giv­en ad­di­tion­al time to fur­ther their in­ves­ti­ga­tion in­to a sol­dier held for ques­tion­ing in re­la­tion to Mon­day’s fa­tal rob­bery at Pen­ny­wise Plaza in La Ro­main.

De­liv­er­ing a de­ci­sion late yes­ter­day on a habeas cor­pus writ filed by the sol­dier, who can on­ly be named if and when he is charged in re­la­tion to the in­ci­dent, Jus­tice Devin­dra Ram­per­sad gave in­ves­ti­ga­tors un­til 2 pm to­day to con­duct an iden­ti­fi­ca­tion pa­rade with him.

Jus­tice Ram­per­sad is ex­pect­ed to re­con­sid­er the writ af­ter in­ves­ti­ga­tors re­port back to him on their progress in a hear­ing sched­uled for 2 pm to­day.

Yes­ter­day’s hear­ing be­fore Jus­tice Ram­per­sad be­gan at 11.30 am but was de­layed sev­er­al times, as lawyers rep­re­sent­ing the TTPS re­quest­ed time to file an af­fi­davit in op­po­si­tion to the writ.

In the doc­u­ment, ob­tained by Guardian Me­dia, at­tor­ney Tson­da Gayle claimed that in­ves­ti­ga­tors need­ed time to tie up loose ends in the in­ves­ti­ga­tion.

She claimed that in­ves­ti­ga­tors con­sult­ed with the Of­fice of the Di­rec­tor of Pub­lic Pros­e­cu­tions (DPP) and were ad­vised that they should con­duct an iden­ti­fi­ca­tion pa­rade with a man, who the sol­dier claimed he was on the way to meet when he was car­jacked.

She claimed that it would take 12 hours for in­ves­ti­ga­tors to make prepa­ra­tions for the ID pa­rade to en­sure that it is fair­ly con­duct­ed.

Gayle claimed that in­ves­ti­ga­tors in­formed her that the sol­dier gave in­con­sis­tent ver­sions of events rel­a­tive to the crime, which in­volved high-pow­ered firearms.

“The Ap­pli­cant has been trained in the use of firearms and has been close­ly in­volved, if not di­rect­ly in­volved with the use of the said il­le­gal firearms,” Gayle said.

Gayle al­so stat­ed that in­ves­ti­ga­tors were con­cerned that if re­leased, the sol­dier may en­gage in the de­struc­tion of ev­i­dence and wit­ness tam­per­ing.

She al­so claimed that he may flee the coun­try based on the na­ture of the of­fences he is un­der in­ves­ti­ga­tion for.

In his court fil­ings, ob­tained by Guardian Me­dia, his lawyers, Criston J Williams, Jade Mar­tinez and Blaine So­bri­an, claimed that he was ar­rest­ed on Mon­day af­ter he went to the San Fer­nan­do Po­lice Sta­tion to re­port that he had been car­jacked by five armed men in La Ro­main.

His ar­rest was re­port­ed­ly due to the fact that the ve­hi­cle was one of those used in the rob­bery of three se­cu­ri­ty guards at­tached to Al­lied Se­cu­ri­ty Ser­vices who were per­form­ing cash tran­sit du­ties.

Two civil­ians have since been held by in­ves­ti­ga­tors in ad­di­tion to the sol­dier.

In the court fil­ings, the sol­dier’s lawyers are claim­ing that his con­tin­ued de­ten­tion for ques­tion­ing in re­la­tion to the rob­bery is un­law­ful and un­rea­son­able.

They claim that while there is no statu­to­ry pro­vi­sion for how long a per­son may be de­tained with­out be­ing charged, 48 hours has been deemed rea­son­able in sev­er­al land­mark cas­es on the is­sue.

They al­so claim their client can be re­leased in­to the cus­tody of the T&T Reg­i­ment pend­ing fur­ther in­ves­ti­ga­tions.

At­tached to the writ was an af­fi­davit from the sol­dier’s un­cle, who is the own­er of the Nis­san X-Trail which was be­ing used by his nephew.

He claimed that around 6 pm on Mon­day, he re­ceived a call from an of­fi­cer of the Table­land Po­lice Sta­tion, who told him his ve­hi­cle was in­volved in a hit-and-run ac­ci­dent.

He claimed that he called his nephew, who an­swered and claimed that he was robbed of the ve­hi­cle a short while ear­li­er. He said he lat­er learned that his nephew was held for ques­tion­ing in re­la­tion to the rob­bery of the se­cu­ri­ty guards.

The TTPS is al­so be­ing rep­re­sent­ed by Keron Ramkha­lawhan.