Trinidad and Tobago’s Attorney General Reginald Armour says he is going ahead with the State’s case against Brent Thomas, noting that the recent decision by the Barbados government to accept liability in a lawsuit involving his removal from that island to T&T in 2022 has no impact on the case against him here.
However, Armour added, “The matter involving the State is currently before the courts of Trinidad and Tobago, is sub judicé and as such, it is prohibited from public discussion or comment.”
Armour said he also had every confidence that the Attorney General of Barbados Dale Marshall SC was acting in the best interest of Barbados, but he said he had no intention of offering his opinion on the matter.
“I have noted the statements in the media attributed to Barbados AG Hon Dale Marshall SC. I trust that his actions are based on the information at his disposal and the guidance of legal counsel,” he said.
Armour was responding to reports over the weekend that the Barbados government had accepted liability in the matter after Thomas sued over his “forced” deportation from that country. Thomas was on his way to visit his US cardiologist and stopped over in Barbados when he was detained at his hotel on October 5, 2022, handcuffed and handed over to three officers assigned to Trinidad and Tobago’s Professional Standards Bureau on the tarmac of the Grantley Adams International Airport.
According to the reports, Roger Forde KC, the attorney for Barbados AG Marshall in the lawsuit, had advised Thomas’ lawyers that the Barbados government had accepted liability based on his (Forde’s) advice.
On Monday, Forde told Barbados TODAY that Barbados is expected to broker an out-of-court settlement.
He said negotiations have not yet begun but confirmed that the government’s acknowledgement of liability is contained in a letter he wrote to Thomas.
“I have advised my client that the State of Barbados should accept liability in respect of the claim for breach of Section 18 of the Constitution of Barbados,” the correspondence stated. Section 18 of the constitution’s bill of rights guarantees the right to a fair hearing and protection of the law.
Thomas is also seeking information on who authorised the action against him on both the Barbados and T&T sides.
Thomas had sued over the Barbadian authorities’ handling of his arrest, detention and forced repatriation by the Barbados Police Service, in tandem with Caricom IMPACS (the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security) and T&T Police Service.
In October 2022, Thomas, a T&T citizen, was arrested at a hotel in Barbados, handed over to T&T police at the Grantley Adams International Airport and brought back to T&T to be charged with firearm-related offences. Thomas claimed he was mistreated and humiliated while in custody.
In April 2023, High Court Justice Devindra Rampersad permanently stayed all criminal charges against the 61-year-old owner of Specialist Shooters Training Centre. Rampersad ruled that the Barbados arrest was unlawful. The state, however, appealed the decision, claiming the judge erred in law.
On Sunday, after the news out of Barbados broke, former commissioner of police Gary Griffith claimed that the truth of the government’s involvement in the controversial arrest in Barbados would soon be revealed.
“I call on the Commissioner of Police to do her job without fear or favour, and I urge the government to immediately come clean and fire the minister and other officials involved, so as to show some respect to citizens who deserve the truth and who must be guaranteed that no one is untouchable,” Griffith said.
“I also wrote to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA), and after the minister’s name is revealed, I will write to the PCA again, as well as the Police Service Commission, should Commissioner Harewood-Christopher fail to adhere to her responsibility to have this matter thoroughly investigated.”
(Trinidad Guardian/Barbados TODAY)
