PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – High Court judge 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 Commission’s (PSC) to suspend her as investigations continue into the procurement of sniper rifles for the Strategic Services Agency (SSA).
Harewood-Christopher was granted leave to challenge the legality of her suspension on February 5, but she was not successful in getting the judge to keep the office vacant until his ruling. Parliament has since approved the appointment of Junior Benjamin, Deputy Commissioner of Police, to act in the position.
Harewood-Christopher’s tenure officially ends on May 15, after two previous extensions in 2023 and 2024, in the national interest.
Court officials say the judge is now expected to send his ruling to the parties via email at an unknown date.
In February, Justice Sieuchand had given the embattled top cop permission to challenge the PSC after her lawyers had sought a judicial review of the PSC’s decision to have her “cease to report for duty and cease to discharge the duties of Commissioner of Police”‘
The balance of convenience does not favor granting this order and militates against it. Granting this relief would create a vacancy in the constitutional office charged with the overall management and responsibility of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service,” the judge said after hearing arguments for nearly four hours.
He said allowing such a void to persist cannot, in his view, be justified where the present circumstances are such that the country is plagued with high levels of reported serious crime and was, at the time, under a state of emergence (SoE).
The police commissioner is challenging the PSC’s authority to suspend her as the investigations continue into the allegation of misbehavior in public office involving her.
Harewood-Christopher was released from police custody in late January after being questioned in connection with the illegal procurement of high-powered rifles.
Her lawyers had sent a pre-action protocol letter to the PSC chairman, Dr Wendell Wallace, giving a February 4 deadline to face judicial review proceedings.
In her application for judicial review, Harewood-Christopher’s lawyers sought an injunction to keep the office of commissioner vacant until the court ruled on her challenge.
“Protect my right to my office, which I have lost because of (the PSC’s) irregularities…Justice should not turn its face against me,” said Senior Counsel Pamela Elder.
Elder told the High Court that the PSC acted without sufficient evidence and relied solely on the Deputy Commissioner of Police’s (DCP) assertion that Harewood-Christopher had been arrested. She questioned the legal basis for the suspension.
Elder said the PSC could only exercise disciplinary control over the commissioner and that the decision to suspend the commissioner was on “dirty, shaky ground.”
The Senior Counsel said that Harewood-Christopher had an arguable case for permission to advance her claim against the PSC, accusing the independent body of acting with “shocking speed” to suspend her client.
“What was the urgency to suspend? In what way have I misbehaved in public office?” Elder said, reminding the High Court that Harewood-Christopher only had three months left of her service. Her tenure ends on May 15, after two previous extensions.
However, in granting leave to challenge the PSC’s decision, Justice Sieuchand ruled that Harewood-Christopher’s argument that the PSC did not have sufficient material before it upon which it ought to have made the decision should be ventilated at trial.
Senior Council Deborah Peake, representing the PSC, rejected Elder’s argument, maintaining that the Commission had the constitutional power to suspend the commissioner when there was sufficient suspicion of misconduct.
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