State to compensate SRP for false imprisonment

A special reserve constable and her daughter-in-law will be compensated by the State for their false imprisonment when they were arrested at their home in Biche in 2017, and taken to the police station where they spent two days before they were released.

Master Sherlanne Pierre ordered the State to pay to Camlah Naraceram damages in the sum of $70,000 and to her daughter-in-law, Jerissa, $65,000. The State will also have to pay 2.5 per cent interest from February 2018, and costs.

Naraceram, her son Adesh Jerissa, were arrested after police raided their home with a search warrant looking for illegal guns and ammunition.

Police were given a bag with what appeared to be ammunition and 0.7 kilogrammes of marijuana by Adesh who took the bag out of his underwear draw in a cupboard. He also gave a sworn statement that the drugs were his and that his mother and sister-in-law knew nothing about it.

Camlah Naraceram said she was told to hand over her police uniforms and all three were taken to the Sangre Grande police station. While at the station, she began feeling unwell and was taken to the Sangre Grande district hospital three hours later.

After her condition stabilised, she was discharged and taken back to the station where she stayed until 5 pm the next day when she was released without being charged. She was given back her uniforms and told she could resume active duty.

She said she suffered mental distress and injury to her reputation as a police officer because of her arrest. Naraceram also said she was shunned by her colleagues who joked about her and her family being drug dealers.

Jerissa Naraceram said when the police came, Adesh told them the bag was his and a statement was written by one of the officers who told him to sign it or “everybody was getting lock up.”

She said Adesh signed the paper and when her mother-in-law came home, he again told the officers the bag was his and his mother and sister-in-law knew nothing about it. She said, as the officers were leaving with them, her husband, Amit, came home with their one-year-old baby and she begged to breastfeed her or be allowed to mix a bottle of formula. Her request was denied.

She said she was kept away from her baby for two days and suffered mental and emotional anguish as well as physical pain since her breasts became engorged because of her inability to breastfeed her child.

Adesh was charged, he pleaded guilty and was fined $12,000. He said he repeatedly told the police the items were his.

The Naracerams were represented by attorneys Alvin Pariagsingh and Robert Abdool-Mitchell while the State was represented by Savitri Maharaj.