San Juan family to receive $.3m for false imprisonment

THREE members of a San Juan family will be compensated by the State for their illegal five-day detention by police during the investigation of a shooting of a policeman and a UWI student in a failed sting operation in 2015.

In an oral ruling after a trial on October 30, Justice Ricky Rahim ordered compensation for Darryl Sircar, Candace Jordan and the estate of Sabhirul Sircar. They will each get $110,000.

Rahim said the facts in the case were “arguably bizarre.”

The three were among four people arrested after a UWI student reported the theft of a cellphone and other items.

PC Russell Ramnarine and UWI engineering student Avery Keshwar were gunned down on December 14, 2015, near a popular barbecue outlet on Williams Street, Aranguez.

Ramnarine had accompanied Keshwar to meet a suspect to retrieve the stolen items.

The suspect with the stolen phone ran away, and although Ramnarine chased him, he did not catch him. Ramnarine then returned to the unmarked police car, where he and Keshwar were unexpectedly shot and killed.

Investigators found two spent shells inside the restaurant.

“The shots to the men were fired from the restaurant,” the judge said of the evidence.

The three family members were then arrested as suspects, along with a restaurant worker who is now before the court charged with the murders.

The three were released on December 21, 2015, without being charged.

Charges were laid against the fourth person.

In his ruling, Rahim held there was reasonable cause to arrest the three, since they had access to the restaurant. He also said CCTV footage showing someone taking a gun to dispose of it in the garage opposite the restaurant would have added to the police’s suspicion.

At the trial, the sole defence witness in the case, PC Figaro, said he received information from other officers from a witness, referred to as “M” by the judge because of his criminal charges, admitting to shooting the two because he thought one of them was going to shoot the other.

However, the judge said this alleged information was in the police’s possession and the officers who received it should have brought it to the investigator’s attention as an immediate concern, not four days later.

Figaro said he received the information days later and interviewed “M,” who denied the alleged confession.

Rahim said the investigation process should reasonably have been completed by December 16. He said the police delay in disclosing the alleged statement could not be a justification for a longer period of detention.

“Those who came by this information needed to bring it to the investigating officer as matter of immediate concern.”

He said he did not accept the State’s defence that the police interview of “M” should have been a marker for the period of detention.

The police were credited for bringing a nurse to treat Sabhirul Sircar because of his medical condition while he was in custody.

However, he said their prolonged detention – from noon on December 16, 2015-December 21, 2015 – would have had an effect on all three.

He ordered compensation with 2.5 per cent interest to be paid from the date the three filed their claim in 2019 to October 30, 2024, when he gave his ruling.

His award included aggravated damages. He said it was not a case for exemplary damages.

The three family members were represented by Lemuel Murphy, Alexia Romero and Saddiq Manzano.