Mechanic to get $80,000 from State for wrongful arrest

DEREK ACHONG

The State has agreed to pay almost $80,000 in compensation to a mechanic from Tunapuna, who was wrongfully arrested and detained for 12 hours before being released.

In October, the Office of the Attorney General accepted liability in Kevon Bascombe’s wrongful arrest and false imprisonment case when it came up for trial before Justice Frank Seepersad.

This week, the AG’s Office agreed to pay Bascombe $78,800 to settle the lawsuit, and a consent order was entered before High Court Master Sherlanne Pierre.

According to Bascombe’s court filings, the lawsuit stemmed from an incident at his home, which he shared with his two brothers, on June 11, 2020.

The three siblings were awakened by banging on their front door.

When they opened the door, they were greeted by a group of police officers, who handed over a search warrant for illegal arms and ammunition.

The officers reportedly did not find anything illegal during the search but still arrested Bascombe.

He was taken to the Tunapuna Police Station and placed in a holding cell.

While in custody, he was questioned about a man who briefly lived in his community. However, Bascombe claimed he had no connection to the man.

Bascombe was instructed to remove his shirt, and a police officer took bare-chested photographs of him.

The officers also asked him to sign a statement before he was eventually released without being charged.

Bascombe claimed that after being released, he noticed that strangers at the side of the road were pointing at him and laughing.

He later learnt that the photographs taken by the police officer were shared on social media pages with captions alleging that he was a member of a gang.

Bascombe claimed that he lost clients after the incident, and his children were bullied in school because of it.

In the lawsuit, Bascombe’s lawyer Abdel Mohammed claimed that the police did not have any reasonable or probable cause to arrest and detain him.

The compensation agreed to by the State included Bascombe’s legal costs for bringing the lawsuit.

Attorney Lianne Thomas represented the AG’s Office.

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