Lawyers for detained suspect in Deyalsingh robbery call for his release
Jensen La Vende
Senior Reporter
Attorneys representing one of two men held in relation to the robbery of Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh are petitioning the Police Commissioner to have him released immediately.
In an email correspondence between Aaron Lewis and Adita Ramdular, a legal officer attached to the Police Service Legal Unit, Lewis requested that his client be released.
“We contend that the detention and continuous detention of our client is unlawful, arbitrary and unreasonable,” Lewis wrote adding that the continuous detention of his client is against his constitutional rights.
Lewis said on September 17, his client was questioned by three police officers about a vehicle supposedly used as the getaway vehicle in the robbery. After answering four questions, the officers left and returned the day after.
“Four police officers visited our client’s home at 10 pm. He was told to wear a jersey and change his pants because they were taking him to the police station. He was informed that he was arrested in connection with the offence of robbery.”
The following day he was taken to the St Joseph where he was interviewed for an hour.
Lewis first raised the threat of a habeas corpus on September 21. In response, Ramdular asked Lewis not to file the habeas corpus as he sought instructions on how to proceed.
A habeas corpus application, once filed, usually forces the police to either release a suspect or charge them with an offence.
On September 17, Deyalsingh, 66, was sitting outside Nyabinghi Bar at the corner of Abercromby and King Streets, St Joseph, at 4.55 pm when two men walked up. One of them placed a gun to his head and demanded that he hand over his gold bera.
A day after the bera was stolen, DCP Suzette Martin warned the culprits, saying, “We’re coming for you,” and hours later two men were held in relation to the robbery.
Police said officers of the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) went to St Paul Street, a day after the robbery, where they saw a blue Hyundai Elantra which they believe was used as the getaway vehicle.
Police intercepted the car and held two male suspects, who were later handed over to St Joseph police, who are continuing the investigations.
The supposed swift action by police was criticised by opposition MPs who called on the police to exercise the same care for other victims of crime.
Speaking outside Parliament last Friday, Davendranath Tancoo, MP for Oropouche West, who is the shadow Minister of Finance, said, “There seems to be a special type of response that is given to crimes when it comes to PNM officials and their friends and families. That is unfortunate.”
Point-a-Pierre MP David Lee agreed, saying: “We wonder if the normal citizenry could get that swift action that ministers seem to get?”
In defence, Laventille East/Morvant MP Adrian Leonce said there was no preferential treatment adding that police would have received information in this case.
“I don’t want to join the bandwagon in terms of saying because it’s the minister or anything. I just feel that being a public person, you have more people saying things. That way information is easier shared. Sometimes something will happen in the constituency and nobody not saying anything but because of who whatever happened to, it is a negative and it is a positive in both ways,” Leonce said.
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