— Police cannot locate original ED from Canadian Embassy
WHEN the habeas corpus application relative to a Canadian infant who was allegedly removed from the custody of the police and is now out of the country continued yesterday, the police told Justice Brassington Reynolds that they could not locate the original ‘ED’ document. The police were able to trace copies of the document, signed by Canadian Immigration authorities and a Canadian Embassy official and addressed to Immigration officials in this country, telling of the plight of the child Ethan Jaichand Latchman, and seeking help to get him returned to Canada.
Justice Reynolds reportedly wanted to see the original document, but all efforts to find that proved unsuccessful.
Senior Counsel Mr. Bernard De Santos, the lawyer guiding the applicant Denowattie Sookdeo, maternal aunt of the infant Ethan Jaichand Latchman and allegedly one of his custodians after the death of his mother, spotted a falsity in a statutory declaration by the father, which he claimed that the police did not see, or had seen and did not investigate.
According to Mr. De Santos, Ethan’s father, who must have known that his woman friend had been picked up by the Canadian police and deported along with her infant son, kept this information away from the Guyana Police Force, and disclosed that the woman was on vacation in Guyana with the child when she died, resulting in the child being abducted.
Mr. De Santos said that had the police investigated the matter properly, they would have known that the father, who was also an unlawful immigrant in Canada, was withholding certain information from them.
The police told Justice Reynolds that all ports of departure were notified, but the person who had access to the Book at Moleson Creek, at which the infant was taken on his way to Canada, said she had inspected the book and did not see any warning.
At yesterday’s hearing, the Commissioner of Police was represented by Senior State Counsel Mrs. Judith Gildharie-Mursalin.
Justice Reynolds is expected to deliver his ruling on June 21 next.