Gov’t paying the price for shoddy police work

Shoddy investigations by the police, coupled with lengthy delays in taking accused persons before the court after they have been arrested and charged, could cost the Government millions of dollars in damages for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution.

With the Government currently facing at least three multimillion-dollar lawsuits for wrongful imprisonment, a few legal professionals have weighed in on the issue.

“We cannot have true justice with poor investigations,” says attorney-at-law John Clarke, who represented a man who was in custody for eight and a half years waiting for investigations to be completed in his case.

That man was freed of the murder charge last year and Clarke emphasised that “poor investigation was the reason for the undue delay”.

He pointed out that even during the trial, the prosecution was asking the police to conduct further investigation.

Clarke has now filed a civil suit against the State in the Supreme Court on behalf of the man.

“The police have to be very scrupulous in their investigations before arresting someone because of the risk of witnesses being mistaken in the identification of accused persons. And there can be compelling witnesses, not only mistaken witnesses,” noted attorney-at-law Anthony Williams, who is representing 41-year-old Charles Montique in a suit against the Government.

Montique was falsely arrested and remained behind bars for three years before he was acquitted.

Williams told The Sunday Gleaner that the circumstances of the police investigations have “shocked” him.

According to reports, a woman gave a statement at the Old Harbour Police Station in St Catherine in October 2014 that a man who robbed her was very tall – about six feet, three inches tall. The woman said she was five feet, eight inches tall and when she stood, she had to look up into the assailant’s face.

Montique was also accused of murder, and witnesses with respect to that charge said the man who committed the crime was about six feet, two inches tall.

Williams said the police said they were also looking for a man who walked with a limp, based on what witnesses said.

After Montique was arrested and charged in December 2014 with murder and robbery, Williams went to the police station to see him.

“I was shocked when I saw this short man being taken out of the cell, walking without a limp,” the attorney told The Sunday Gleaner last week.

In addition, Williams said he was dismayed that the police and prosecution also relied on CCTV footage to identify Montique, but the video evidence showed no identifiable individual.

Montique was denied bail for three years and was eventually freed in December 2017 after Williams said he impressed upon the judge that there was mistaken identification and prosecutor Adley Duncan conceded.

Williams filed a civil suit against the State on Montique’s behalf in March this year, seeking “substantial compensation”. The matter was brought before the Supreme Court last week and was adjourned for the parties to have meaningful discussions with a view to settling the matter.

INVESTIGATION LACKING

Ceon Allen, a farmer of Duhaney Park, St Andrew, was awarded $2.1 million with interest in damages this year for false imprisonment after being held in custody for nine days before making his first appearance in court.

Allen was accused of being involved in an October 2012 incident in which a man was robbed and shot.

On October 22, 2014, the complainant attended the Gun Court and indicated that he no longer wished to proceed with the case, and Allen and his co-accused were freed.

Justice Stephanie Jackson-Haisley, in making the award in Allen’s case, said certain aspects of the investigation were lacking.

Attorney-at-law Andrew Irving, who represented Allen both in the criminal and the civil cases, said that he agreed with the judge.

Allen was not successful in his claim in the Supreme Court for malicious prosecution, as the judge said in the circumstances, it could not properly be said that the policeman acted without reasonable cause.

Irving contended that the arresting officer did not check the alibi that at the time of the shooting incident, Allen and six other men were cleaning and clearing a football field in Duhaney Park.

He was taken into custody on November 28, 2012 and charged on December 3, 2012, along with another man.

Justice Jackson-Haisley, in handing down her decision earlier this year, said: “To my mind, the claimant has succeeded in proving that certain aspects of the investigation were lacking. Although he was unable to successfully challenge the officer’s assertion that he went into the community and interviewed community members, who were tight-lipped, what was established through the cross-examination was that the officer could have gone a step further.

“It is alarming that although the officer was advised that the suspects were living in the community where [the complainant] resided, he never went in search of the alleged suspect/s who would have been alleged to be in possession of a firearm. On his own account, at the very least, he would have been aware of this from November 21, 2012, when he recorded the complainant’s statement, but up to November 28, 2012 had not gone in search of the claimant.”

The judge said she noted a blatant inconsistency on the part of the arresting officer where he at first indicated that he was not aware that the claimant had an alibi, but when pressed further, admitted to taking a statement from a witness who said the claimant was not present.

“Does this mean, therefore, that there was malice on the part of the officer? I am not convinced of that,” the judge remarked.

“Although the fact of shoddy or poor investigation does not equate to malice, it could cause one to wonder if the lack of proper investigation was actuated by any ill motive or ill will and so I have considered this. It is the uncontested evidence that the officer did go into the community and interview community members; however, this exercise proved futile. This indication is not difficult to accept,” Justice Jackson-Haisley noted.

FILTHY LOCK-UP

In awarding damages for false imprisonment, the judge said that Allen was charged on December 3, 2012 and there is no explanation in the evidence why it took up to December 12, 2012 for the accused to face the court. She found that the claimant’s further detention was, therefore, unreasonable and unlawful.

She said Allen should have been brought before the court “as soon as [was] reasonably practicable”, which would have been the day after he was charged. Allen was granted bail in December 2012.

Allen spoke of the deplorable conditions under which he was held at the lock-up and the judge said the attorney general was not able to challenge that claim.

“I therefore accept the evidence of the claimant that the cell at the Hunts Bay Police Station was filthy, the floors and walls had faeces and urine, and that there were rats, cockroaches and other insects in the cell. I accept that there were some 22 persons in the cell and that he had to stand up and sleep, and further that he felt humiliated and felt a sense of loss of dignity,” said the judge.

Allen was awarded general damages in the sum of $1.9 million with interest at three per cent from December 2012 to February this year. The amount represented $282,000 for the first day in custody and $203,000 each for the additional eight days. He was also awarded special damages of $270,000 with interest at three per cent from December 2012 to February 2022 for loss of earnings. The judge awarded Allen 50 per cent of his legal costs.

The attorney general was represented by attorney-at-law Shaniel Hunter, while the complainant, who was named as a defendant, died before the civil trial commenced.

RUINING LIVES

“Shoddy investigations by the police not only waste the court’s time and resources, but can ruin people’s lives,” one judge told The Sunday Gleaner last week.

Other legal professionals pointed to several cases, particularly in the Gun Court, that are not properly investigated.

Attorney-at-law Dr Garth Lyttle said the police should be very careful in their investigations because “we live in a society where people point finger without proof”.

He said when innocent people are falsely accused, it not only affects them but their families as well. He further noted that there were also occasions when relatives of the victims claimed that they were wronged because the cases were not properly investigated.

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