Policeman loses appeal for wrongful arrest

UPDATE:

A police officer who complained of his arrest by the Professional Standards Bureau has lost his lawsuit.

Cpl Mark Phillips sued the Attorney General for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment in 2013.

Phillips was arrested on October 31 that year, and his home searched after four packets of cocaine, which were part of a court exhibit, went missing.

He was released on November 2, without charges being laid against him.

In a 22-page decision, Justice Vasheist Kokaram held that overall there was no malice, spite or ill-will demonstrated against Phillips when he was arrested. The judge admitted that while he was of the view that the arresting officer did not have a perfect reason to arrest Phillips, he had sufficient facts to reasonably form an honest belief that the officer had committed an arrestable offence.

“The initial arrest was reasonable and each further period of detention thereafter was justified to conduct a search, question him and await formal instructions. The actions of the arresting officer were professional and in the circumstances reasonable and I find no merit in the claim for wrongful arrest and false imprisonment,” the judge ruled.

“The arresting officer had sufficient facts and reasonable cause to form an honest belief that the claimant had committed an arrestable offence. The claimant’s detention of approximately 58 hours was also justified for the officers to conduct a search, interview of the claimant and to await formal instructions from the DPP to charge the Claimant.

The claim was therefore dismissed, Kokaram said.

He made no order for Phillips to pay the State’s legal costs.

In his decision, Kokaram said to determine if an arresting officer had reasonable and probable cause, it must first be determined what was in the arresting officer’s mind and if the facts he was relying on warranted a suspicion that a felony had been committed and if there was a suspicion that the person whose arrest was contemplated had committed the act or was a party to its commission.

At the same time, he noted, it was the duty of the arresting officer to avoid mistaking the innocent for the guilty.

“Where there is no danger of escape by the suspect or some other reason which will justify swift action, they should make reasonable enquiries and act on the assumption that their prima facie suspicion is ill advised. The mind of the officer is relevant and his suspicion must be based on grounds, in his mind, which would lead a reasonable person to suspect the arrested person of the offence. The matters creating the suspicion in the police officer’s mind must reasonably give rise to such suspicion and they must be both honestly held in the officer’s mind and reasonably believed by the officer.”

ORIGINAL STORY:

A police officer who complained of his arrest by the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) has lost his lawsuit.

Cpl Mark Phillips sued the Attorney General for his wrongful arrest and false imprisonment in 2013.

Phillips had been arrested on October 31 that year, and his home was searched after four packets of cocaine, which were part of a court exhibit, went missing.

Phillips was released on November 2, without charges being laid against him.

In a 22 page decision, Justice Vasheist Kokaram held that overall there was no malice, no spite or ill-will demonstrated against Phillips when he was arrested.