State to compensate attorney’s wife

UPDATE:

THE STATE has been ordered to compensate a business development manager for false imprisonment and unlawful detention.

In a recent ruling, Justice Ricky Rahim ordered the State to pay to Trishuana Scarlett, $85,500 in compensation, including interest, after she was illegally held by Fraud Squad for 36 hours in 2012, and deprived of her liberty.

Scarlett, the wife of a prominent Port of Spain attorney, was taken from her Belmont home by police on December 10, 2012, at 5.30 am.

According to her evidence, she was pregnant at the time and was not told by the police why she was being arrested.

Scarlett was taken to the Fraud Squad office at the corner of Park and Richmond Street, Port of Spain, and was only told, four hours later, that she was being detained to aid in the investigation of fraud charges against her former employer, an accountancy firm based in the United Kingdom, although she had been first told by the police that she was to be charged.

She said she was also told two British Inland Revenue officers wanted to interview her about the time she spent at the UK accountancy firm, and the interview was being done under the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, with the help of the local police.

She said she was told if she did not respond to the questions, her detention would have continued.

Scarlett was interrogated by the British Inland Revenue officers and the police and held overnight although she was told she was not being charged but was only providing assistance to the UK authorities.

She was released on December 11, 2012, between 5.30 and 6 pm, and suffered physical and mental distress during her detention.

Scarlett also said her husband and her in-laws were humiliated when the police came to their home with guns, when she would have “happily assisted the police with their investigation if they were asked in a humane manner.” In testimony, Senior Supt Vincel Edwards said he told his officers Scarlett had to be interviewed as she was a suspect, but was not to be arrested.

He said he advised his officers to use maximum caution and self-restraint when bringing her in, and to not cause any emotional distress.

Edwards also said he never told her or gave her the impression she was at risk of being arrested and charged for any offence in TT, and insisted she was not a detainee or a prisoner although her name was entered into the Detainee Register at the Fraud Squad.

In his ruling, Rahim found the police unlawfully entered Scarlett’s home, and illegally detained her.

He was also critical of the State’s evidence, saying the attempt to have the court believe matters which made no “good sense” was disingenuous.

“The case for the defendant flies in the face of all logic and law as we know it.”

“It is clear that the police acted under the presumption that they were entitled to treat the claimant as a suspect and proceeded to her home in the early hours of the morning so that she would have no choice in the matter.

This was not an invitation and to suggest otherwise is to attempt to deceive this court.”

He added, “The circumstances of an invitation and voluntary accompaniment would have been quite different.

This evidence was nothing short of alarming to the court.”

Rahim also said he found it “disingenuous of the defence to suggest that the pregnant claimant was free to leave the police station if she wanted,” when she was not.

Scarlett was represented by Colvin Blaize.

ORIGINAL STORY:

THE STATE has been ordered to compensate a business development manager for false imprisonment and unlawful detention.

In a recent ruling, Justice Ricky Rahim ordered the State to pay to Trishuana Scarlett, $85,500 in compensation, including interest, after she was illegally held by Fraud Squad for 36 hours in 2012, and deprived of her liberty.

Scarlett, the wife of a prominent Port of Spain attorney, was taken from her Belmont home by police on December 10, 2012, at 5.30 am.

According to her evidence, she was pregnant at the time and was not told by the police why she was being arrested.

Scarlett was taken to the Fraud Squad office at the corner of Park and Richmond Street, Port of Spain, and was only told, four hours later, that she was being detained to aid in the investigation of fraud charges against her former employer, an accountancy firm based in the United Kingdom, although she had been first told by the police that she was to be charged.