Court refuses to order police force to reinstate cop

Former police constable Damian Davidson, who sought to be reinstated after a no-order was made in March 2018 in relation to criminal charges which involved plotting with his girlfriend for her to be kidnapped, has lost his legal battle to remain in the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).

The $1 million ransom was paid by the woman’s grandmother for her safe return in the 2008 incident.

Supreme Court Judge Sonya Wint-Blair ruled on February 28 that then commissioner of police, who was the defendant, cannot be faulted for the decision he took based on the investigation in the case. The judge said she accepted that Davidson conspired with Fredrica Wallace Radcliff to stage her kidnapping and that from investigations by the police, a portion of the ransom money was found at Davidson’s home.

Davidson, who was represented by attorney-at-law John Clarke, had sought an order of certiorari to quash the decision of the commissioner of police not to re-enlist him in 2010 and to discharge him from the JCF.

He was also seeking an order of mandamus to compel the commissioner to re-enlist him. He said he had a legitimate expectation to be re-enlisted.

He disclosed he received a letter from the commissioner in September 2010 that his application for re-enlistment had been denied based on the charges against him. He was given 14 days to respond and that was done, but he was only given a brief audience with the commissioner who said his mind was made up in relation to the charges. Davidson said he was not given an opportunity to state his innocence.

Owen Ellington was the Commissioner of Police at the time.

The judge found that when Davidson made the application in March 2018 for reinstatement he was no longer an enlisted member of the JCF.

Davidson’s claim was grounded on a breach of natural justice. The claim was also on the plea of autrefois acquit, in which it was stated that a policeman acquitted of a criminal charge shall not be dismissed or otherwise punished in respect of any charge of which he has been acquitted.

A CONSPIRACY

He outlined in his fixed date claim form filed in the Supreme Court that he was enlisted in the JCF in 2006. In March 2008, he was charged jointly with others with the offences of conspiracy to defraud, obtaining money by means of false pretences and creating public mischief. He was served with a notice of suspension with effect from April 4, 2008 pending the outcome of the charges against him. A ‘No-Order’ was entered against him in the St Catherine Parish Court in March 2018.

Davidson said the charges were based on a conspiracy between his girlfriend Fredrica Radcliff and two men to stage her own kidnapping in order to subterfuge her grandmother into paying for her safe release. He said after his girlfriend resurfaced, the police searched his home and found $200,000 which he was saving to buy a motor car.

He outlined that he applied for re-enlistment in September 2010 and was informed that his application had been denied because of the charges against him.

In response to the claim, Acting Assistant Commissioner of Police Andrew Lewis testified that the ‘No-Order’ was entered as the complainant indicated that she no longer wished to proceed with the matter. He said that the notice of non-recommendation for re-enlistment gave reasons which were the low level of productivity, the charges before the court and the findings of investigations into those charges.

He said the investigations revealed that Davidson had conspired with his girlfriend to stage her kidnapping. Davidson was found in possession of $410,000 in his home, which he admitted was a portion of the ransom money collected to pay for the release of his girlfriend.

But Lewis said the matter was dismissed without the facts of the case being ventilated at the insistence of the complainant (the grandmother), and the court directed that the sum of money mentioned be returned to the complainant.

‘COMMISSIONER OF POLICE CANNOT BE FAULTED’

The judge, in handing down her decision last month, said the claimant received in the notice of non-recommendation for re-enlistment the information revealed in an investigation into his conduct.

“The claimant did not set out the matters said to have been uncovered in the investigation. He denied that the ransom money was found in his premises, saying he was lured into criminal activities,” the judge said.

“Setting before this court an unblemished service record, without acknowledging or even adducing any credible evidence in answer to the findings of the investigation is a manner of proceeding which did not find favour with this court. The admissions made to the police on the investigation and the CP about the matter concerning the allegations are grave and weighty matters which were not placed before this court by the claimant at his own election. Therefore, this court accepts that the claimant conspired with Mrs Wallace Radcliff to stage her kidnapping,” the judge said in her ruling.

“He was found in possession of Four Hundred and Ten Thousand Dollars ($410,000) in his home, which he admitted was a portion of the ransom money collected to pay for the release of Mrs Radcliff. The matter was dismissed without the facts of the case being ventilated at the instance of the complainant and that the court directed that the sum of money mentioned be returned to the complainant.”

The judge further noted, “In all the circumstances of this case, the commissioner of police cannot be faulted for proceeding in the manner that he did.”

Attorney-at-law Robert Clarke, instructed by the director of state proceedings, represented the then commissioner of police.

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