Deyalsingh robbery suspect released

AFTER an attorney threatened to file a writ of habeas corpus against the State, a Diego Martin man who was suspected of being involved in the robbery of St Joseph MP Terrence Deyalsingh was released from police custody on Sunday.

He had been held by police for three days without charge.

A writ of habeas corpus requires that a person who is detained is brought before the court so police can show cause for their detention.

In an e-mail to the Commissioner of Police, attorney Aaron S Lewis demanded that his client be released or he would file a writ of habeas corpus in accordance with part 57 of the Civil Proceedings Act of 1998.

“It has been three days since our client was detained at the St Joseph Police Station and the reasonability of our client’s detention is at issue.

“We contend that the detention and continuous detention of our client contravenes his constitutional entitlements, outlined in sections four and five of the Constitution,” Lewis said in his e-mail.

Lewis said on September 14 at about 11 pm, police visited the man’s Diego Martin home about a robbery which had occurred the same day.

Police asked him if he had rented a vehicle on that day, where he was at the time of the robbery, if he knew two other suspects and if he knew who robbed the MP.

Lewis said his client told police he was at home with his family, the two other suspects involved in the robbery were his cousins and he did not rent any vehicle.

On September 18, police returned to his home at around 10 pm. He was told to put on a jersey and change his pants and that he was under arrest in connection with the robbery.

He was taken to the St Joseph Police Station on September 19, where he was questioned again.

He was then taken to a justice of the peace on September 20. There, he confirmed the authenticity of the interview notes.

However, he was not charged with any crime.

In a response to the e-mail, legal officer Adita Ramdular told Lewis the man was going to be released.

Police said at about 5 pm on September 17, Deyalsingh was sitting outside Nyahbinghi bar with a constituent when two men confronted him and robbed him of a gold bracelet valued at $10,000.

The men then got into a car and escaped.

Officers of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF), based on intelligence gained from an investigation, went to St Paul Street the day after and found a blue Hyundai Elantra, which they believed was the getaway vehicle. They intercepted the car and held two male suspects.