Compensation for man arrested 3 years after he paid fine

Patrick Awong -
Patrick Awong -

WITH the increase in the number of offences for which fixed-penalty tickets and fines can be imposed – including fines for not wearing masks in public – a judge is calling for official records available to different arms of the State to be digitised.

Justice Frank Seepersad said the need for accurate record-keeping on the payment of fines under the fixed-penalty regime was now important because of covid19 public health regulations.

“The evident breakdown of the State's machinery and the lack of communication between the Judiciary and the police service must be urgently addressed.”

His recommendation came as he ruled in favour of Patrick Awong, who, in 2015, was issued a fixed-penalty ticket for a traffic offence.

Awong pleaded guilty when he appeared in the magistrates’ court, was fined $1,000, and paid it on the last day of the 14 days he was given.

Three years later, he was arrested for not paying the fine and was kept in custody for eight hours.

He was eventually released when his brother paid $1,000. After his release, Awong, brother of the chairman of the Couva/Tabaquite/Talparo Regional Corporation, Henry Awong, was refunded the $1,000 his brother had paid.

In a decision on Thursday, Seepersad found that Awong’s arrest and detention violated his constitutional rights to liberty and protection of the law under the Constitution.

He also ordered the State to compensate Awong with the sum of $37,000 for the eight-hour period he was detained, and interest of 2.8 per cent from August 2018.

Seepersad said there was no evidence to suggest there was a proper system in place to notify the police or to facilitate the prompt cancellation of a warrant issued in error.

“It is in fact unfathomable," he said, "that there seems to be no link between the magistracy and the police service which would provide for the real-time transmission of such critical information.

“This circumstance is detrimental to good public administration and can have drastic consequences for the liberty of citizens,” he said, adding that “systemic administrative shortcomings” cannot be allowed to circumvent the rights of citizens.

“In this Republic, no citizen or individual who has paid an imposed penalty should be subjected to arrest or be detained ex-post facto because the payment was not duly recorded.

“In a covid19 world, where physical contact has to be minimalised, the administrative systems of the State have to be operated with heightened accuracy and efficiency.

“There is need for proper digitalisation of records and for inter-connectivity between the various arms of the State. When imposed fines are paid, the payment must be promptly and accurately recorded,” he said.

Awong was represented by attorneys Anand Ramlogan, SC, Alvin Pariagsingh, Che Dindial and Alana Rambarran. Stefan Jaikaran and Amrita Ramsook appeared for the State.

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