Tobago woman freed after stolen-sheep case dismissed

A Tobago woman accused of receiving two stolen black-belly sheep in 2024 has been freed after a Scarborough magistrate dismissed the case.

Senior Magistrate Alicia Chankar ruled the matter was dismissed for want of prosecution and noncompliance after the charging officer failed to appear in court and prosecutors did not disclose their full file to the defence as ordered.

Attorney Yves Jacques Nicholson, who represented the woman, who asked not to be named because of the stigma associated with the allegation, criticised the police’s actions as intrusive after the magistrate’s ruling.

He said she would have been held for longer than she was if not for a writ of habeas corpus granted by the High Court.

Nicholson and attorney Jade Martinez had secured the writ from Justice Christopher Sieuchand, who, on September 12, ordered her immediate release after she agreed to report to the Scarborough police station to learn whether she would be charged.

Nicholson argued the matter should have been brought by summons because the case involved no violence and the animals were already recovered. One of the sheep has since died.

He said police induced his client to visit the station under the guise of “clearing her name,” before detaining her for days.

“A summons was not leniency, but lawful, proportionate policing,” Nicholson said. “The State’s power to detain must be strictly necessary and proportionate. The confinement of a compliant citizen for days in a livestock matter, ending in a failed prosecution, was unjustified and corrosive of public confidence. We welcome the court’s ruling and the High Court’s initial prompt habeas corpus intervention.”

Police had alleged that on September 5, 2024, the sheep’s owner tied two of his animals, valued at $4,000 each, in an empty lot at Riseland Trace. Later that day, when his son went to retrieve them, the animals were gone. The incident was reported to the Shirvan police.

The woman, when questioned by PC Kevon Jardine, said the sheep, found at her home, were bought by her husband for $1,000. She said her husband spoke with a friend who arranged with another man to buy the sheep for her.