Policeman gets leave to challenge warrant

A POLICE officer has been granted permission by a High Court judge to challenge a magistrate’s decision to issue a warrant of arrest for him after he failed to go to court.

PC Dale Makoonsingh of Five Rivers, Arouca, did not go to court on November 29 as the officer who charged three people for ammunition and marijuana possession. He said in his lawsuit that he had mixed up the dates.

Justice Ricky Rahim, presiding at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain yesterday, granted him leave to challenge the decision of Magistrate Aiden Stroude to issue the arrest warrant.

Makoonsingh’s attorneys Jagdeo Singh and Kiel Taklalsingh argued that the magistrate unlawfully issued the warrant for their client’s arrest.

He said that on December 11, he received a telephone call from PC Ross of the Court and Process Branch at the Morvant Police Station, telling him she had a warrant for his arrest because he did not go to court on November 29.

He was told to surrender or he would be forcibly arrested.

Makoonsingh said on December 14, he went to court, was detained by police there and taken before magistrate Indira Misir-Gosine, who asked why he did not come to court when he was supposed to.