High Court dismisses habeas corpus application by SoE detainee

A High Court judge has dismissed a habeas corpus application of a customs clerk of La Horquetta who remains detained under a preventative detention order issued in December 2025 during the ongoing state of emergency.

Justice Karen Reid dismissed Kevin Mills’ application during a late afternoon hearing on January 21.

Mills was detained on a PDO dated December 13, 2025. The order, issued by the Minister of Homeland Security, stated that Mills was suspected of facilitating “brazen and well-orchestrated attacks” against members of the public and law-enforcement officers. Intelligence gathered by the police further suggested that Mills and members of the La Retreat Gang intended to carry out future shootings and homicides that would pose a serious threat to public safety.

The application was brought by attorney Nestor Dinnoo-Alloy, who argued that the detention was unlawful because notice of the PDO was not published in the Gazette within the seven days required under the Emergency Powers Regulations 2025. He contended that the notice was only published on December 25, 2025, 12 days after the order was made.

Dinnoo-Alloy also submitted that Mills was already on bail for a separate charge of possession of ammunition and should not have been subjected to preventive detention while on bail. He also raised further complaints about the length of the detention.

However, at the hearing of the application, Senior Counsel Anand Ramlogan, appearing for Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander, urged the court to dismiss the application, describing it as fundamentally flawed. He argued that late publication did not affect the legal validity of the PDO, as the order had been served on Mills within the prescribed time. Ramlogan maintained that service of the order, not publication, was the critical factor, and there was no challenge to the minister’s authority to issue the PDO.

Ramlogan also pointed out that Mills had an alternative remedy before the Review Tribunal established under the Emergency Powers Regulations and had already exercised that right, with judgment reserved only the day before the habeas corpus hearing.

He further submitted that, given the prevailing state of the law and the intervening Christmas holiday period, the order was not in fact published late.

Ian Benjamin, SC, who also appeared for the Commissioner of Prisons, adopted Ramlogan’s submissions and told the court that the habeas corpus application amounted to an abuse of the court’s process.

After hearing submissions from all parties, Justice Reid dismissed the application.

The Minister of Homeland Security was also represented by attorneys Jared Jagroo and Lemuel Murphy. Renuka Rambhajan appeared alongside Benjamin.

The ruling follows a series of unsuccessful challenges by detainees held under preventive detention during the SoE. In October 2025, an application by Isaiah Greenidge was dismissed by High Court Judge Devindra Rampersad, while a similar challenge brought by Rajaee Ali was dismissed in July 2025 by Justice Frank Seepersad.

The SoE remains in force and is scheduled to expire on January 31.