Police beat, framed and jailed a man: Taxpayers must pay$$
- 22 hours ago
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A NEW GRANT man has been awarded more than $250,000 in damages after the High Court found he was unlawfully arrested, beaten, falsely imprisoned and maliciously prosecuted by police officers in a case described as abusive, oppressive and unconstitutional.
The ruling was delivered yesterday by Justice Nadia Kangaloo, who upheld the civil claim brought by Anslem Neptune against the Office of the Attorney General. Neptune was represented by attorneys Abdel Mohammed and Shania Sinanan.
In her oral ruling, Justice Kangaloo found that the actions of the police officers involved were unlawful and malicious, noting the matter fell at the upper end of seriousness because it involved the fabrication of evidence and repeated acts of violence against a detainee.
The court accepted Neptune’s evidence as credible, consistent and corroborated by an independent witness. By contrast, the judge rejected the testimony of the State’s sole witness, finding it unreliable and riddled with inconsistencies.
The case arose from events on the evening of January 14, 2017, when Neptune was liming on the front step of a friend’s home along Third Branch Road, Monkey Town. The court had heard that a marked police vehicle arrived and three officers—two in uniform and one in civilian wear—ran toward him, with firearms drawn.
According to the accepted evidence, Neptune complied with police instructions but was aggressively seized, handcuffed and taken away in view of neighbours and friends.
Despite asking why he was being arrested, he was ignored. The court found that he was beaten, struck and subjected to excessive force, including while being transported in a police vehicle.
Justice Kangaloo accepted that Neptune was assaulted while in police custody and again at the Tableland Police Station, where he was beaten with a cricket bat. The court further found that ammunition was planted on him and that the criminal charges later brought against him, including possession of ammunition, were entirely fabricated.
Neptune was detained overnight in degrading conditions and later charged with several offences, including obscene language, resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. He was eventually remanded to the Golden Grove Prison remand yard before being granted bail in the sum of $100,000.
The charges were dismissed in June 2018 at the Princes Town Magistrates’ Court after the officer who laid the charges failed to appear.
Justice Kangaloo found there was no reasonable or probable cause for Neptune’s arrest or prosecution, and that the circumstances justified an inference of malice, thereby establishing malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.
In assessing damages, the court awarded $160,000 in general damages, inclusive of aggravated damages, and $40,000 in exemplary damages. Interest at 2.5% per annum from October 2022 amounted to $13,753.42, while prescribed costs were calculated at $41,063.01, bringing the total award to $254,816.43.
Following the ruling, Mohammed said the judgment reaffirmed the court’s role in protecting citizens from abuses of State power.
“This judgment is a clear affirmation that the courts will not tolerate abuses of police power or the fabrication of evidence against citizens. Mr Neptune was subjected to serious injustice, and today’s (yesterday’s) ruling restores not only his rights but reinforces the rule of law in Trinidad and Tobago,” he said.
