State to compensate engineer for car seized by police

THE State has accepted liability for the actions of the police who arrested a Petroleum engineer in 2013 and seized the second-hand car he bought months earlier, claiming it was stolen.

Damages for Mario Maraj will now be assessed by a Master of the High Court.

On Thursday, a consent order was approved by Justice Frank Seepersad after the State accepted liability for the police’s actions.

Seepersad said the police apparently acted arbitrarily and this was a cause for concern, as he urged the parties to arrive at a settlement after the State asked for more time to engage in talks.

Maraj, who was represented by attorneys Darryl Heeralal and Nerissa Bala, bought the car on May 1, 2012. At the time, the car – a Nissan Sylphy – was not transferred because of complications at Licensing Division, his lawsuit contended.

The car spent almost five months being repaired and upgraded and later that year, in November, he chose to lease it for hire and use it solely as an income earning asset.

He hired a driver to work the Maracas/St Joseph route who, in January 2013, got into a minor accident. The driver took the car to a garage in Maracas Valley on January 19, and later that day, the police went to the garage on a raid for stolen vehicles.

Maraj was told his vehicle was stolen. The car was taken to the stolen vehicles’ unit in Aranjuez while Maraj was arrested, taken to the Arouca police station and released six hours later.

His lawsuit said he continues to suffer mentally from this experience. It also said he has not been charged with any offence nor is he aware of any on-going criminal investigation. The vehicle has also never been returned to him.

Maraj’s lawsuit contended the police, without legal justification, continue to deprive him of his use and possession of the car and he continues to suffer loss and damage.

He had asked for compensation in the value of the vehicle, of $65,000; loss of income at the rate of $900 per week from the time it was seized by the police to the present; compensation for the depreciation in the car’s value and exemplary damages.

He also wants the car returned.