'State witness' cop's lawsuit dismissed

A High Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by WPC Nicole Clement complaining about the Director of Public Prosecutions' failure to continue plea discussions, make a further plea agreement with her for financial support after the trial and for her family to migrate.

In a ruling on July 30, Justice Margaret Mohammed said Clement’s lawsuit was academic.

Clement was the State’s main witness in the murder trial against six police officers charged with the 2011 murder of three Moruga friends.

She was originally also charged with the murders of Abigail Johnson, 23, Alana Duncan, 28, and Kerron “Fingers” Eccles. The three murder charges against her were discontinued in 2012 after the DPP gave her immunity to turn state witness and testify against the six.

However, during the trial at the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain, Clement refused to testify, and was deemed a “hostile witness.”

The six officers were acquitted on November 24, 2023.

Clement had filed two separate lawsuits relating to the plea deal and her security detail at a safe house in 2022.

Justice Frank Seepersad threw out the lawsuit on the alleged removal of her security detail on November 29, 2023.

Clement is expected to reappear in the new law term before Justice Mauriceia Joseph in the San Fernando High Court on the single count of conspiracy to pervert the course of public justice. A status hearing was held on July 26.

In her lawsuit, Clement alleged there were outstanding issues with her plea agreement with the Director of Public Prosecutions. She said it made no provision for her family to join the justice protection programme (JPP) or emigrate when the matter was done, and there was no provision for a recommendation for a non-custodial sentence for her.

Clement claimed her attorney at the time assured her the outstanding issues had been raised with DPP Roger Gaspard and discussions would continue after the plea agreement was made.

She said she was prepared to plead guilty, but there were issues with the plea deal to be resolved.

In reply, the DPP argued that Clement’s claim was completely academic. He also argued Clement could not expect any concession, since she breached the agreement by not giving evidence against her former colleagues.

Gaspard also said the issues Clement raised fell outside his remit.

In explaining why she found Clement’s lawsuit academic, Mohammed said she had breached the terms of the agreement, so it would not be in the interest of justice to grant the orders she sought. Although she said there was a delay by the DPP in stating his position on Clement’s requests – they were made in 2019, but the DPP only made his position known in 2022 – it was not unreasonable, since it took the witness seven years to write to him asking for further discussions.

Gaspard also contended he could not and did not agree with any proposal that fell outside the Plea Agreement Act. He also explained that the Justice Protection Act established an entire programme to protect certain witnesses and others, and he did not have any control or authority over whether a prospective applicant was accepted in the witness protection programme nor a role in approving an applicant to the JPP. He said he did not have the details of her acceptance to the JPP.

Gaspard also said he could not give an inducement, or perceived inducement, to a witness to give evidence for the State and in Clement’s case, he took the precaution of holding all plea discussions with her attorney.

In her lawsuit, Clement claimed she entered into an agreement with then-assistant commissioner Raymond Craig for her to plead guilty to conspiracy to pervert the course of justice, and the three murder charges would be dropped against her once she turned state witness and testified against her former colleagues.

Her lawsuit claimed plea negotiations began with the DPP in 2012.

While under protection, she was moved from safe house to safe house because of living conditions and security concerns.

In April 2023, she left one safe house as she no longer felt safe, and said she lost faith in the JPP to provide security for her and her daughter.

She went to the St Clair police station, where she stayed from April 28-June 2, 2023, before she had to leave. She relocated to east Trinidad at her own expense.

On September 29, 2023, she sent a message to officers at the homicide office in San Fernando that she would surrender once a warrant of arrest was issued for her. Having heard nothing, she surrendered at the Arouca police station in November 2023 and appeared in court on a bench warrant to testify at the trial.

Although Mohammed said Clement could not be faulted for filing the lawsuit, since she did not get a response to her pre-action letter in the prescribed time, she would have been aware by November 2023 that she was in breach of the agreement so the DPP and the State had to pay her costs for the work done in the pre-action stage up to July 7, 2022.

Clement was represented by Michael Rooplal, Kristy Mohan and Vishan Girwar. Ian Benjamin, SC, Keston McQuilkin and Nalini Jagnarine appeared for the DPP. Douglas Mendes, SC, Chase Pegus, Sanjiv Sookoo, Brent James and Justay Guerra represented the Attorney General.