PREMATURE JUDGMENTS A DANGEROUS TREND

– AG says following report of Justice Kennard on Harding matter
CHAIRMAN of the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) and retired Chancellor of the Judiciary, Justice Cecil Kennard, said on Tuesday that there is a difficulty at this time to prove that Colwyn Harding had indeed been sodomised.

Attorney General Anil Nandlall
Attorney General Anil Nandlall

And Attorney General (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, noted that persons — especially those pursuing a political agenda — ought to exercise greater care and circumspection in matters of this nature, and should refrain from making premature judgments, which seems to be a dangerous trend developing.

QUOTE: ‘We cannot sacrifice due process (and) natural justice at the altar of political expediency’ – AG Nandlall

“We cannot sacrifice due process (and) natural justice at the altar of political expediency. This is precisely what many persons did in this matter, including the Alliance For Change (AFC). These persons rendered judgment, computed their own compensation, and are demanding that the state pay this compensation at the sum of $100M taxpayers’ money. This is the height of recklessness and irresponsibility!” he declared.

MEDICAL EVIDENCE
The AG pointed out that, in their haste to pass judgment, the judgemental persons ignored reality. He said, “Take, for example, the sheer improbability of a baton being inserted in someone’s anus without him needing medical treatment for nearly two months, as well as the fact that the victim of such a violent assault was able to walk, attend court, and have bowel movements for two months without any apparent problems…”

Nandlall added that persons who made their conclusions public based such statements only on what they had heard from one side, and in the absence of any corroborating evidence. “More importantly, those comments were made in the face of medical evidence which suggest that there was no such assault. I am aware that the young man is being examined by doctors in Jamaica. It is not without significance that two weeks have passed and we are not hearing any report from those doctors.

“I have no doubt that, were the reports supportive of their contentions, it would have been front page news in certain newspapers,” Nandlall asserted.

Justice Cecil Kennard
Justice Cecil Kennard

The Legal Affairs Minister also referred to the Linden protest incident of July 2012, wherein some of the “same players” recklessly concluded that the police and Minister Rohee were involved in the shooting.

“They alleged that they had information that the police shot; and that Minister Rohee, by telephone, issued the instructions to shoot. Mr. Nigel Hughes brought a ballistics expert from overseas, whose testimony established the opposite, that is, that the bullets did not come from police weapons.

“They also brought the telephone records of Minister Rohee, which also established that no call was made from his phone at the material time to any police officer in Linden. It caused them grave embarrassment.”

RUSHED JUDGMENT
After the report of the issue had surfaced, Home Affairs Minister Clement Rohee had also urged restraint from rushing to judgment, opining that pronouncements should rather await completion of the necessary investigations and reports.

Last week, Rohee condemned the use of that matter as a political football, and said that premature judgments should be eschewed.

“We view with great consternation politicians and others usually critical of the Government reducing this grave matter into a political football, kicking it around to bolster their faltering political fortunes,” Rohee said.

NO EVIDENCE

Minister Clement Rohee
Minister Clement Rohee

Justice Kennard told the Chronicle that the difficulty comes about because of the length of time that had elapsed between alleged commission of the incident and when the young man was seen by a doctor. When this publication contacted the PCA chairman on Tuesday, he confirmed that he had finished compiling his report, and added that he was reviewing the documents and making copies for his records, before sending the file back to either the commissioner of police or the crime chief, who would forward same to the DPP for legal advice.

He said that if one were to recommend buggery among other charges for the ranks fingered in the Harding matter, when it reaches the court, it is likely to be thrown out on a no-case submission, because the medical records would have to be produced to substantiate and support that the young man had been buggered.

Justice Kennard said doctors’ reports are not confirming that Harding had been buggered.
Harding had told reporters that he did not speak earlier about the incident of baton sodomy because he was embarrassed to reveal the ordeal.

Justice Kennard, who had said earlier that he had an open mind to the investigation, also confirmed that he had requested that the police bring to him a baton for him to analyse, and this had formed part of his conclusion of the investigation.

He made it clear that his leg of the investigation is just part of the entire probe, and when the file reaches the desk of the DPP, the decision on how to proceed would be hers to make.

NEXT STEP
The last update on Harding’s condition is that he was expected to undergo a second independent medical examination later this week.

Last December, the 23-year-old alleged that he had been raped while in police custody at the Timehri Police Station. The officer who is alleged to have committed the act has been fingered as Constable 19175 Devin Mahendra Singh.

Justice Kennard noted that while there are allegations of buggery, the medical reports and checks by the doctors are proving otherwise.
However, he noted that it was confirmed on the basis of the evidence that some amount of physical force had been used on Harding while he was in police custody.
Several ranks are expected to face disciplinary charges under the Police Disciplinary Act, while two others would be facing criminal charges of assault once the DPP accepts the findings from investigations done by the Police Complaints Authority.

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