Judge reserves ruling on cops' detention

The High Court judge who ordered the detention of two policemen under the Anti-Gang Act on Monday has reserved her ruling on an application for her to lift her orders.

Justice Lisa Ramsumair-Hinds will rule tomorrow on whether she will do so.

Ramsumair-Hinds was asked by attorneys for the policemen on Tuesday to lift the orders of detention she had granted pursuant to section 17(5) of the Anti-Gang Act of 2018.

The policemen’s application was heard in the San Fernando High Court today.

Police on Sunday made an application to have the men detained for a further 11 days, as they needed more time to carry out their investigations. Ramsumair-Hinds considered the application without a hearing and in her order said there were reasonable grounds to believe the further detention was justified and that the police investigation was being done diligently and expeditiously.

The police were given until March 8 at 11.40 am, to keep the men in custody.

The two policemen were detained on Friday by the Organised Crime and Intelligence Unit (OCIU) at the Arouca police station after they returned from court. Their lockers were reportedly searched, their cell phones seized and their homes searched. Police are alsoinvestigating four lawyers.

On Tuesday, Justice Malcolm Holdip also ordered the further detention of a third person, a civilian, for a further 11 days. The detention order began on Wednesday, and will expire on March 10 at 7.30 am. Holdip's order also said the further detention was justified and the police investigation was being conducted diligently and expeditiously.

Last month, police said four suspects from a known gang based in the Five Rivers, Arouca area, were arrested and charged for offences under the Anti-Gang Act.

From October 2018 to then, in total seven people have been arrested and charged.

The legislation was proclaimed by President Paula-Mae Weekes in May last year, and at the time the Ministry of the Attorney General and Legal Affairs said: “This act is one of several legislative measures that have been undertaken to buttress the criminal justice system and assist law enforcement in its fight against crime.”

The act was passed in Parliament on May 4, 2018, and assented to by the President on May 15.

The legislation was a source of contention between the Government and the Opposition and was defeated last December when the Opposition refused to back it because it did not approve of the four-year sunset clause.

After agreeing to a 30-month sunset clause, the Opposition supported the bill, which needed a three-fifths majority. It was passed in the House of Representatives in March and a month later in the Senate.