$.25m bail for WPC on 5 fraud charges

A 35-YEAR-OLD woman police constable (WPC) has been granted $250,000 bail by Justice of the Peace Stephen Young to cover five fraud charges laid against her.

WPC Sumanta Denise Darcel Davidson, who last worked in the North-Eastern Division, was charged with three counts of uttering a forged document and two counts of obtaining money under false pretences. She will next appear in court on November 6.

A police press release on Tuesday stated that in October 2012, Davidson applied for employment as a data entry operator at the IT department of the police service.

She tendered a certificate of results with the following CSEC grades - Biology General (II), Chemistry General (II), English Language General (II), Geography General (II), Mathematics General (II), Principles of Accounts General (II), Social Studies General (II).

The woman was successful in her application and began working as a data entry operator for two years and three months. On Thursday October 2, 2014, the woman went to the Police Academy in St James, where she tendered an application for employment along with a certificate of results with the following CSEC grades - Biology General (II), Chemistry General (II), English Language

General (II), Geography General (II), Mathematics General (ll), Principle of Accounts (ll).

In February 2015, while at Arima Police Station, Davidson was vetted by a background investigator from the Police Training Academy. While being interviewed, she again produced a Caribbean Examination Council Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) with the following grades - Biology General (II), Chemistry General (II), English Language General (II), Geography, General (II), Mathematics General (II), Principles of Accounts General (II), Social Studies General (II), which was then certified by the investigator.

The woman was subsequently chosen to be a Police Recruit and trained at the academy. On March 23, 2016, she took the oath of office and was sworn in to be a police officer.

The police release stated that the woman was placed at a station in North Eastern Division until she was suspended in 2018, having received salaries in excess of $350,000. On January 27, 2017, an anonymous report was made to the Professional Standards Bureau (PSB) in Port of Spain and WP Corporal Carthy was detailed to investigate. A file was subsequently handed over to Acting Cpl Bissessar to continue investigations on August 22, 2019.

As part of the PSB investigations, documents were obtained from the Ministry of Education, the Arima Secondary School and CXC headquarters in Barbados. Enquiries was also done at the Police Administration Building, Human Resource Department and the Finance Department.

The investigations revealed the woman wrote the CSEC exam in June 2001, at the Arima senior Comprehensive School and obtained the following grades: Biology General (V), Chemistry General (V), English (A) General (II), Mathematics General (IV), and Physics General (V).

The woman was subsequently arrested, told of the allegations and cautioned and interviewed in the presence of her attorney. The advice of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) was sought and instructions received. She was further cautioned, told of her constitutional rights and privileges. She was then charged by acting Cpl Bissessar of the PSB.