Police admit giving wrong advice on crime march

THE POLICE have conceded their officers gave UNC activist Victor Roberts the wrong advice on a public march against crime in 2022.

The trial of Roberts’s lawsuit challenging the lawfulness of the Police Commissioner’s decision to deny him a permit for a public march last December was expected to begin on Wednesday before Justice Carol Gobin.

However, on the eve of the trial, attorneys for the commissioner conceded that Roberts had properly applied to hold the march, but the police wrongly told him he had been refused permission, also claiming he had not applied in time.

After being told he had been denied permission, Roberts was subsequently allowed to hold two public marches. One was cancelled and the other was held in May, from Aranguez to Port of Spain.

Gobin approved the consent order. The police also agreed to pay Roberts’s legal costs.

In March, when the lawsuit first came up before Justice Frank Seepersad, the police were ordered to pay “wasted-costs” because of their failure to meet deadlines for filing evidence.

In a statement, Roberts’s attorneys said their client did everything required for permission for the march but police told him his application had been denied. The statement said when he criticsed the commissioner’s decision publicly, the police issued a press release to say Roberts had been given permission but they could not contact him.

Roberts’s attorneys said he chose to challenge the decision for vindication of the rule of law, freedom of speech, expression and association.

Roberts was represented by King’s Counsel Anand Beharrylal, Dinesh Rambally, Kiel Taklalsingh, Stefan Ramkissoon, Rhea Khan, Kavita Anita Moonasar and Crystal M Singh.