Police appeal dismissal of Alicia’s Guest House partygoers case

POLICE Commissioner Gary Griffith says the police were ready to proceed with the breach of covid19 public health regulation cases.

In a release on Wednesday, Griffith also disclosed that the police have filed a notice of appeal challenging the magistrate’s decision to throw out the cases against 11 people.

The case against a 12th person is expected to be treated the same when it comes up for hearing next Monday.

On Monday, Port of Spain magistrate Sarah De Silva dismissed the matters against five Trinidadian men and six Venezuelan women for want of prosecution by the police.

The Trinidadians are Bruce Bowen and Dominic Suraj, both of Maraval; Christopher Wilson from Belmont; Collin Ramjohn from Point Cumana; and Marlon Hinds from Diego Martin.

The six Venezuelans are: Luz Marinavargas Ibarra, Dana Natacha Fuentes Mudarra, Gresel Gerardo Goncalez Gonzalez, Yulangi Del Carmen Prospertt Array, Luisneidis Marino and Mariangel Del Valle Lopez Ramos.

The 11 were among a group of 16 who were held during a police operation led by Commissioner Gary Griffith and the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), at Alicia’s Guest House in Cascade on April 10.

The trial of the 11 was expected to start on Monday at a virtual hearing but, when the matter was called, prosecutors asked for more time to send their file to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

De Silva refused, reminding police prosecutors she had given them extensions before.

In the release, the police service said it was always ready to proceed with the case against the 12.

The release said when the case was called on Monday, the complainant – the officer in whose a name the complaint was made – and his witnesses were present and the police were ready to proceed with the trial.

However, the statement explained that because of the public interest of the case, the police prosecutor recommended that the file be sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to take control of the prosecution of the case.

The statement said, despite the request, the matter ended and the cases against the 12 were dismissed.

It quoted Griffith, saying the police had appealed the matter. It also said he asked for a report after the cases were dismissed and after looking at it, a decision was made to file an appeal “as he does not believe that the interest of justice was served in this case.”

In the release, Griffith also took the Trinidad Express to task for its editorial on the collapse of the case, headlined Probe this Police Failure.

He complained that the editorial made no reference to the 97 per cent improvement in the attendance of police complainants in court in 2020, compared to the same period in 2019.

Instead, he said the newspaper chose to blame him for the collapse of one case which, he claimed, was “not the fault of the TTPS.”