Fuad Abu Bakr, son of Jamaat-al-Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr, and his wife, Kristy Ramnarine-Bakr, yesterday won their lawsuit against the State for false imprisonment.
In an oral judgment delivered in the Port-of- Spain High Court, Justice Carol Gobin ruled in the couple’s favour over the action of police officers who detained and arrested them last year over an allegation that their vehicle was stolen.
Gobin dismissed the State’s defence stating that the police failed to provide evidence to substantiate their claim that there was another vehicle with the same registration number as the Bakr’s pick-up.
Compensation for the couple will be calculated by a High Court Master later this month. They were represented by Om Lalla and Dereck Balliram.
In a brief interview outside the Hall of Justice, the couple expressed relief saying the experience at the hands of police had been “very embarrassing.”
“It shows that something is wrong with the system...It sends a message to the authorities that there is a way to do things and the police cannot victimise people or not allow them their rights,” Ramnarine-Bakr said.
Her husband encouraged citizens to take legal action against the State if they feel they are being victimised by law enforcement agents.
“This really is for all the people who go through this kind of embarrassment. I am not the only one, I know countless others,” he said.
According to the evidence in the case, the couple was pulled over by police on the east bound lane of the Beetham Highway near Beetham Gardens on February 24, last year.
Bakr was ordered out of his Toyota Hilux and handcuffed. He and his wife were taken to the Besson Street Police Station where they were told the police suspected the vehicle was stolen as there was another vehicle with the same registration number.
The couple said they were not allowed to communicate with their attorneys for several hours. A certified copy for the vehicle was produced and Ramnarine-Bakr, a producer with CNC 3, was released from custody. However, her husband was transferred to another station before he was eventually released hours later. Neither was charged.
Bakr said the police apologised and told him there was an administrative error with the T&T Police Service database which caused the number plates of Bakr’s pick-up to be duplicated.
