– for ‘wrongful detention, inhumane suffering’

A MULTI-million dollar lawsuit has been brought against the State by attorney-at-law Darren Wade, who is representing 54-year-old Jamaican national Sandra Russell, who was held for eight months at the East La Penitence Police Station without being charged or making a court appearance.

Wade had moved to the High Court and filed a lawsuit against the Attorney-General, Commissioner of Police and Chief Immigration Officer for the wrongful imprisonment and inhumane suffering of his client.

The attorney is contending that the police and immigration authorities had no legal authority to hold Russell beyond 72 hours without seeking an extension from the Courts.
Wade is also contending that Russell was falsely imprisoned by the Police and Immigration Authorities, and that whilst in custody, she had no proper bedding, the food she was given was inadequate, the lock-ups had inadequate space and lighting, and ventilation was poor.
The lawyer is further contending that his client’s fundamental rights as guaranteed under Articles 139, 141 and 148 of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana were not only breached and encroached but also infringed by members of the Guyana Police Force and Immigration Officials.

Russell, through her attorney, is suing the State for $10M per day for every day she unlawfully spent in custody; more than $20M for the inhumane and degrading treatment she suffered; and another $20M for the breach of her Freedom of Movement; in addition to $50M for false imprisonment.

In 2018, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, at the Georgetown Magistrates Court had sentenced Russell to eight months imprisonment and fined her $135,000 after she threw herself at the mercy of the court.

Russell had pleaded guilty to drug trafficking, the charges for which offence read that on June 25, 2018 at Omai Landing, she had 70 grams of marijuana in her possession.
However, while serving her time at the New Amsterdam Prison, she was released early after her sentence was reduced by half, and on November 10, 2018, was released from prison and placed in the custody of a female immigration officer, after being informed that preparation was being made for her deportation back to Jamaica.

In court documents seen by this newspaper, Russell is quoted as saying that the Immigration Officer into whose custody she was released, after receiving a phone call from sources unknown, informed her that she was no longer being taken to ‘Immigration’ but rather the East La Penitence Police Station.

Russell also alleges that while at the East La Penitence Station, she was not taken before a magistrate or a judge. “While at the East La Penitence Police Station,” she said in the document, “I fell ill because of poor conditions, and not having proper and adequate meals and supplements, and as a result, I was taken to a doctor at the East La Penitence Health Centre, where I was treated and given medications.”
She also alleges in the document being denied doing an interview she had scheduled with a Kaieteur News reporter, and eventually becoming depressed and stressed among other atrocities she was made to suffer.

On July 7, 2019, Russell was eventually released on $10,000 bail.