PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Excessive Court docket decide Christopher Sieuchand Tuesday deferred his ruling in a matter involving suspended Police Commissioner Erla Harewood-Christopher, who has challenged the authority of the Police Service Fee’s (PSC) to droop her as investigations proceed into the procurement of sniper rifles for the Strategic Companies Company (SSA).
Harewood-Christopher was granted go away to problem the legality of her suspension on February 5, however she was not profitable in getting the decide to maintain the workplace vacant till his ruling. Parliament has since accredited the appointment of Junior Benjamin, Deputy Commissioner of Police, to behave within the place.
Harewood-Christopher’s tenure formally ends on Might 15, after two earlier extensions in 2023 and 2024, within the nationwide curiosity.
Court docket officers say the decide is now anticipated to ship his ruling to the events through e-mail at an unknown date.
In February, Justice Sieuchand had given the embattled high cop permission to problem the PSC after her attorneys had sought a judicial evaluate of the PSC’s resolution to have her “stop to report for responsibility and stop to discharge the duties of Commissioner of Police”‘
The steadiness of comfort doesn’t favor granting this order and militates in opposition to it. Granting this reduction would create a emptiness within the constitutional workplace charged with the general administration and accountability of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service,” the decide mentioned after listening to arguments for practically 4 hours.
He mentioned permitting such a void to persist can not, in his view, be justified the place the current circumstances are such that the nation is plagued with excessive ranges of reported severe crime and was, on the time, underneath a state of emergence (SoE).
The police commissioner is difficult the PSC’s authority to droop her because the investigations proceed into the allegation of misbehavior in public workplace involving her.
Harewood-Christopher was launched from police custody in late January after being questioned in reference to the unlawful procurement of high-powered rifles.
Her attorneys had despatched a pre-action protocol letter to the PSC chairman, Dr Wendell Wallace, giving a February 4 deadline to face judicial evaluate proceedings.
In her utility for judicial evaluate, Harewood-Christopher’s attorneys sought an injunction to maintain the workplace of commissioner vacant till the court docket dominated on her problem.
“Defend my proper to my workplace, which I’ve misplaced due to (the PSC’s) irregularities…Justice shouldn’t flip its face in opposition to me,” mentioned Senior Counsel Pamela Elder.
Elder advised the Excessive Court docket that the PSC acted with out adequate proof and relied solely on the Deputy Commissioner of Police’s (DCP) assertion that Harewood-Christopher had been arrested. She questioned the authorized foundation for the suspension.
Elder mentioned the PSC may solely train disciplinary management over the commissioner and that the choice to droop the commissioner was on “soiled, shaky floor.”
The Senior Counsel mentioned that Harewood-Christopher had an controversial case for permission to advance her declare in opposition to the PSC, accusing the unbiased physique of performing with “stunning pace” to droop her consumer.
“What was the urgency to droop? In what method have I misbehaved in public workplace?” Elder mentioned, reminding the Excessive Court docket that Harewood-Christopher solely had three months left of her service. Her tenure ends on Might 15, after two earlier extensions.
Nevertheless, in granting go away to problem the PSC’s resolution, Justice Sieuchand dominated that Harewood-Christopher’s argument that the PSC didn’t have adequate materials earlier than it upon which it must have made the choice ought to be ventilated at trial.
Senior Council Deborah Peake, representing the PSC, rejected Elder’s argument, sustaining that the Fee had the constitutional energy to droop the commissioner when there was adequate suspicion of misconduct.
