THREE POLICE OFFICERS INTERDICTED FROM DUTY

October 26, 2007

Commissioner of Police Gerald Westby has interdicted Sergeant # 7-8-9 Anthony Polonio and Police Constable # 35 Darius Ramos from duty. Additionally the Security Services Commission has rescinded the acting appointment of Clement Cacho and he was reverted to the rank of Sergeant. He was also put on immediate interdiction from duty. This follows meetings held by Legal Advisor for the Belize Police Department, Senior Superintendent Keith Lino and Justice Adolph Lucas and Director of Public Prosecution Lutchman Sooknandan.  This follows an incident on Wednesday in the court of Justice Adolph Lucas where the officers said they could not identify Chayben Bou Nahra as the person they dealt with in connection with the 2005 shooting death of Shawn Copius. All three officers were also charged with disciplinary offences of Prejudice to Good Order and Discipline and Bringing the Police Department into Disrepute. Police report that internal investigation continues. Earlier today Love News spoke with Leader of the Opposition Dean Barrow.

Hon. Dean Barrow, Opposition Leader:

“First I understand that there were four officers involved and I can’t, for the life of me, conceive of the police not doing anything about the fourth officer. In any event, these interdictions suggest that they are suspended from duty in the case of two of them, and in the other case it is being recommended to the security services commission, that he be suspended from duty while investigations are taking place. On the fit of perjury, there need not be any investigation to support that. You make one statement and it is used by the prosecutor for purposes of preliminary inquiry. You go into court, you take up the Bible and you say something different and it conflicts right away presenting a case of perjury. Two things ought to have happened. The director of public prosecution was to immediately instruct the police department to charge all four of these officers with perjury. I cannot understand why he did not do that. But in any event, the police themselves are there because they are the ones that ultimately bring the charges. In some cases they act on their own and in some cases they follow the instructions of the DPP. Because the facts here are so clear, both of them are to blame; the DPP for not instructing the police and the police for not going ahead on their own and bringing charges of perjury. You don’t have to be a lawyer to understand that these people clearly lied of differed materially from the statements they had earlier given when they had took up the Bible and went to court and swore to tell the truth. On the face of it, that’s enough to charge them. Whether, after they’re charged, a court will find them guilty or not, to my mind, at this junction and it does not matter because there is enough evidence. There is nobody that can tell me on the face of the facts that there is not enough to bring immediate charges that should have been done. In the meantime, the police could have continued to investigate to see if they could bring additional charges on perhaps engaging in a corrupt act of accepting a bribe. Those charges clearly would depend on the investigation and on evidence. But that fundamental charge of perjury on the circumstances on the face of what happened required no investigation and so I fault the DPP and the police for not charging these people immediately with the offense of perjury.”

Opposition Leader Dean Barrow.

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