ROSEAU, Dominica, CMC – Senior Magistrate Michael Laudat has withdrawn from a case in which a police officer has been charged with possession of drugs and ammunition, saying he does not feel confident that he could administer justice to the accused.
The magistrate was due to hear arguments regarding bail for Constable Anthony Francis Jr., but announced that he was recusing himself from the matter and placed it before the Chief Magistrate, who will now deal with the bail application.
The matter has since been adjourned to Thursday.
Francis, who at the time of his arrest was stationed at the Mahaut Police Station on the island’s west coast, has been charged with the possession of five rounds of 12-gauge ammunition as well as with possession of 20 rounds of 7.5 ammunition without being the holder of a valid licence.
In addition, the policeman was charged with the theft of 121 rounds of assorted ammunition valued at EC$359 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents), and 286 grams of cocaine valued at EC$7,722, the property of the Dominica Police Force.
On his first court appearance on September 5, the police officer pleaded guilty to all three charges and was kept in custody pending another court appearance three days later.
However, in the company of his attorney, Tiyania Behanzin, who asked the court to re-read the charges to him, Francis Jr. pleaded “not guilty” to the charges, with his lawyer then making a bail application on his behalf.
Behanzin told the court that before the alleged crime, his client had been “a model police officer” and had two young children, was the sole breadwinner of his family, and denying him bail was “not in the best interest of society”.
But the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Sherma Dalrymple, objected to bail, telling the court that the alleged offences were “serious, given the offences charged, under the Bail Act, bail was ‘not a right’ and “it was not in the public’s interest to so grant bail”.
She said the prosecution intended to call an “expert witness” to testify on the caliber of the ammunition stolen and its potency now being in the hands of the public.
However, Behanzin objected, but his objection was overruled by the court, which stated that the law allows the prosecution to call witnesses, as well as the defense.
Laudat gave each party time to prepare, file, and serve statements via affidavits and to return to court on Tuesday. Still, when the matter came up for hearing, Behanzin informed the court that he faced several challenges in filing his client’s rebuttal and asked that he be allowed to address the court on the matter. The court denied his request because he had failed to adhere to the court’s requirements.
After a brief adjournment, the magistrate returned and explained that, given all that had transpired, he, as a minister of justice, did not feel confident that he could administer justice to the accused and that he was recusing himself from the matter.
Francis was remanded at the State’s Prison pending his bail application.
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