With new lawsuits for wrongful detention, Police Force urged to respect citizens’ human rights and freedoms

The Guyana Police Force and by extension, the State have been slapped with two lawsuits related to wrongful detention since the year began and Attorney General Anil Nandlall, in an invited comment on Friday, noted the cause for concern.

He said while each case will have to be addressed on its merits, the government is working with the Police Force to ensure that these reports decrease even as he noted previous occasions where the State was ordered to pay compensation by the courts.

“I read in the newspapers that the Attorney General was sued in two proceedings and I read that the cause of action relates to unlawful detention by the police.

“Those proceedings were filed and sent to the press before they were served on me.

“I have not had an opportunity to look at them and it would be difficult to express a view,” Nandlall told the News Room.

Last week, Terrence Sandy, a 22-year-old porter of Kuru Kururu, Linden/Soesdyke Highway, filed a $96 million lawsuit for wrongful arrest and imprisonment for 80 days.

Earlier this month, an Industry, East Coast Demerara minibus operator filed another multi-million dollar lawsuit for his unlawful detention and imprisonment in October 2023 in relation to a case of mistaken identity over monies owned for a battery.

In both cases, the men are being represented by Attorney Dexter Todd.

Nandlall said the government has been working with the Police Force to ensure there are minimal allegations of this type.

Attorney General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, S.C Photo: DPI/September 13, 2022)

Notably, in 2021 the State has been ordered to pay $3.1M to a 56-year-old Jamaican national who claimed she was wrongfully detained for eight months at the East La Penitence Police Station shortly after being released from prison for serving a sentence for trafficking narcotics.

The judgment was handed down in favour of Sandra Russell on Wednesday by Chief Justice (ag) Roxane George.

In 2018, the woman was sentenced to eight months in prison and fined G$135,000 by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan for the possession of 70 grams of cannabis.

The Jamaican national had her sentence reduced to three and a half months and served her time at the New Amsterdam Prison, however, on November 10, 2018, Russell was released into the custody of a female Immigration Officer who told her that she would be deported to her homeland. That never happened and she was kept in custody at the East La Penitence Police Station; after eight months there, on July 7, 2019, she was released on $10,000 bail.