[UPDATED] Arouca pastor, 5 others: Our lives ruined by human-trafficking charges

A pastor and five other people who were charged with human trafficking after police raided an Arouca facility and rescued 69 people have all been freed and they claim the experience has ruined their lives.

Pastor Glen Awong, head of Transformed Life Ministry, had been jointly charged with former principal Cheryl Kallicharan Beharry, Anthony Marchan, Robert Andrews, attorney Lena Jaggernath and her mother Indra Jaggernath with trafficking in persons, kidnapping and false imprisonment, in December 2019.

Magistrate Brambhanan Dubay upheld no-case submissions on behalf of the six accused in the Arima Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Speaking at Sturge's chambers on Richmond Street, Port of Spain, Awong said he believed the plot to charge him arose over a payment dispute with the State for taking care of the homeless, mental clients and drug addicts.

Awong claimed then commissioner of police Gary Griffith was "chained-up" as the "big bad wolf" to "come at us without any information, without any knowledge."

"We pass through a bitter experience because they did not want to pay money owed to us. Somebody pocket the money," he claimed, saying the dispute over unpaid fees was still before the court.

"It is a bitter experience if somebody should charge you for human trafficking, money laundering and imprison you," without any evidence, he said.

On the issue of compensation for the pain and suffering he and his family experienced, Awong said he was leaving that in the hands of his lawyers. They all intend to sue the State for malicious prosecution.

Beharry said she was was wrongfully imprisoned "just for trying to get help for my children."

She said she was suspended from her job as an acting principal and could not get alternative employment after she was charged.

"I always say that the truth always come to light, and whatever reasons we were arrested, today we are justified and vindicated. It was wrong."

Speaking on behalf of her mother and sister, Sharon Jaggernath, said she was also arrested during the investigation by police and soldiers and dragged out of bed.

"TT can't imagine what we have been though for the last four years. We were taken out of beds the day after Boxing Day in 2019, and from then our careers suffered."

She said to this day, her children are taunted and their families accused of being involved in human trafficking. She said she is flagged when she travels overseas and pulled aside and questioned.

She said her reputation as well as her sister's, as attorneys, suffered and they lost financially.

"Today is a kind of bittersweet day. Yes, we got justice, but we can never, ever erase what we went through. They could never pay us for the loss of reputation, they can never pay us for the damage to our integrity... In TT, we don't have people to account. In another country it is a line of people they would have had to fire," she said.

On October 8, 2019, the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), now disbanded, led by Griffith, went to Transformed Life Ministry's rehabilitation centre in Arouca. There police said the team rescued 69 people, some of whom, they claimed, were naked and locked in cages. Police said they also found and seized handcuffs, batons and Tasers.

The case against the six was based on the testimony of two of Beharry's children, Selwyn and Christiana, and several police officers.

The magistrate found the two children were not credible witnesses and held that no jury properly directed could convict on their testimony. The main witnesses admitted under cross-examination they had psychiatric treatment for drug misuse in the past.

Details of the testimony is restricted from publication during the hearing of preliminary enquiries to prevent any prejudice of the potential trial before judge and jury. The defence submitted that their clients had no case to answer after the prosecution presented all of its evidence.

In an oral ruling, the magistrate found there was no evidence the accused were harbouring anyone for the purpose of exploitation. He also ruled that Jaggernath at all times acted properly as a lawyer, and her mother was merely present.

The magistrate said the prosecution had not proven an essential element of the offence of human trafficking in relation to the 69 people who were at the facility.

The group was represented by a team of lawyers including Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, Alexia Romero, Danielle Rampersad, Survana Jaimungal and Sherry Sookdeo.

Commenting on the outcome of the case, Griffith, now the political leader of the National Transformation Alliance, said as CoP he led an operation where over 60 people were found in padlocked cages, eight by six feet, some shackled by their feet.

"If this is seen as something that is acceptable, and it is deemed lawful to have elderly persons in cages...with the lock on the outside, preventing their freedom, persons being shackled in cages eight foot by six foot... it is the exact reason why I need to return to political office, to try to ensure that citizens could be protected."

Griffith questioned whether the police had brought all the evidence they found, or if it was a case of police absenteeism, which he had managed to improve while in office. He said he saw the conditions at the facility first-hand and could have been a witness if asked.

"Is it that it (the evidence) was not provided, hence allowing yet again the justice system not to operate to full effectiveness?" he asked.

This story was originally published with the title "Human-trafficking case against pastor, 5 others, thrown out" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

The criminal case against a pastor, a former school principal, a lawyer and three other people charged with one of the first major human-trafficking cases in Trinidad and Tobago collapsed in court on Tuesday.

Presiding magistrate Brambhanan Dubay upheld no-case submissions on behalf of the six accused in the Arima Magistrates Court.

Pastor Glen Awong, head of Transformed Life Ministry, had been jointly charged with principal Cheryl Kallicharan Beharry, Anthony Marchan, Robert Andrews, attorney Lena Jaggernath and her mother Indra Jaggernath with trafficking in persons, kidnapping and false imprisonment, in December 2019.

On October 8, 2019, the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), now disbanded, led by then police commissioner Gary Griffith, went to Transformed Life Ministry's rehabilitation centre in Arouca. There police said the team rescued 69 people, some of whom, they claimed, were naked and locked in cages. Police said they also found and seized handcuffs, batons and Tasers.

The group was represented by a team of lawyers including Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, Alexia Romero, Danielle Rampersad, Survana Jaimungal and Sherry Sookdeo.