JUDGE CHARGED

HIGH Court judge Kevin Ramcharan will appear before a Port of Spain Magistrate today charged with driving under the influence of alcohol.

Ramcharan was charged shortly before midnight on Saturday after police said he was involved in a minor accident along Maraval Road in Port of Spain. According to reports, the accident occurred at around 11.45 pm which resulted in officers of the St Clair Traffic Section being called to the scene.

When officers arrived, they administered a field sobriety test on one of the people involved in the accident and the blood alcohol level was over the legal limit of 35 micrograms. The driver's blood alcohol level was registered at 55 micrograms.

According to reports, PC Romany detained the judge and took him to the St Clair Police Station where he was asked to submit to another test. Following those two tests, the judge was charged with the offence and later granted bail in the sum of $15,000.

Police sources said that while at the station, Justice Ramcharan expressed remorse but did not protest on being charged.

After he was granted bail, the judge was allowed to leave and gave officers the assurance that he would be in court today to answer the charge.

Police sources said yesterday that other high-ranking officials have been charged for the year for drunk driving and the treasury has benefited from fines issued to the alleged perpetrators. They confirmed a total of 301 people have been arrested by traffic branch for driving under the influence for this year, thus far.

Last year, Ramcharan became the subject of controversy when he allegedly posted a series of sexually charged tweets on his Twitter account after being appointed as a High Court Judge. The tweets allegedly included remarks about women's bodies and pornography.

In 2007, Justice Ramcharan, then an Assistant Registrar with the High Court, failed to attend a court hearing to testify in the preliminary inquiry of Chaguanas businessman Selwyn “Robocop” Alexis, after he reportedly gave former Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Carla Browne-Antoine the assurance that he would attend.

On Tuesday April 11, 2017, Ramcharan was among three judicial officers appointed as judges by the Judicial and Legal Services Commission (JLSC). The others were former Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar and Avason Quinlan-Williams, wife of acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams.

Ayers-Caesar later resigned over the brouhaha that ensued when it was revealed she accepted the judgeship before clearing up a backlog of pending magisterial court cases in her name.
(Additional reporting by SHANE SUPERVILLE)