BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – Attorney General Dale Marshall has called on Police Commissioner Richard Boyce to investigate a statement made by a judge in Trinidad and Tobago that law enforcement authorities had abducted a national from the twin island republic and forcibly returned to Port of Spain earlier this year.
“I am aware of the decision of the Trinidad and Tobago High Court Justice, and I have requested a report on the matter from the Commissioner of Police. Until then, I can make no useful comment,” Marshall told the online publication Barbados TODAY.
Trinidad and Tobago National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has confirmed that an appeal will be launched after Justice Devindra Rampersad said that a Trinidad and Tobago citizen, Brent Thomas, had been “abducted” from Barbados by police to face criminal charges there.
In his ruling on April 25, Justice Rampersad made scathing findings against police officers and stayed the criminal charges against Thomas, a firearms dealer.
Attorney Andrew Pilgrim KC said if, as the judge stated, the police here had a hand in Thomas’ abduction, somebody needed to be held accountable.
“On the face of it, I think the police ought to give us an account of their involvement in the matter to say that they were not involved or that they were involved. If they were involved, who commanded them to do so? Let them account for it because a Trinidad court says that Barbadian police facilitated this kidnapping,” he told Barbados TODAY.
“I am concerned about it because it represents a severe and profound infringement on the rights of our country’s CARICOM (Caribbean Community) citizens.
“If it happened as outlined in the judgment of the case, it means that Barbados would have had to play a role in it because I don’t believe a Trinidad Defence Force plane could come and land at Grantley Adams, and police in Barbados go and pick up a person, deliver him to the Trinidad police, put him on a plane and send him to Trinidad and lock him up without people here knowing what’s going on. Somebody here has got to account for it.”
Pilgrim also suggested that legal action could be brought against the Barbados police.
“They would have no authority to arrest him unless he committed a crime here in Barbados, in which case he should have been charged in the courts of Barbados,” he said.
Thomas was first arrested on September 29, 2022, and later released. He was re-arrested in Barbados, where he said he intended to travel to Miami to meet his cardiologist and returned forcibly to Trinidad and Tobago.
He was later charged with possessing weapons, including grenades and rifles.
Over the weekend, Trinidad and Tobago opposition legislator, Dr. Roodal Moonilal, said the Barbados government had questions to answer about findings made by a High Court judge regarding the abduction of Thomas.
“Who gave the authority? Which department in Trinidad and Tobago? Which police officer, defense officer? Which minister in the Cabinet authorized and participated in the international, illegal abduction of a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago,” Moonilal said at an event of the opposition United National Congress (UNC).
Speaking in Parliament last Friday, Moonilal said that the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) had assisted the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) in illegally abducting a citizen of Trinidad and Tobago and bringing him back here to face charges.
But former national security minister, Stuart Young, told Parliament that the TTDF was not involved in transporting Thomas back to Trinidad and that he had arrived here on a plane supplied by the Barbados-based Regional Security System (RSS).
Meanwhile, the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) in Port of Spain said it had opened an investigation into the findings made by the judge.
In a constitutional motion, Thomas challenged his detention and the procurement of search warrants for his home and his dealership.
In granting the numerous declarations Thomas had asked for, Justice Rampersad ordered that his ruling be sent to the Justice of the Peace Association and the Commissioner of Police on what information is required, on oath, for the procurement of search warrants by officers.
In his 97-page judgment, the judge said from the evidence, he was satisfied that the warrants were “unlawfully obtained.”
and then 