The file in the case against a former policeman on a human-trafficking charge involving a Guyanese woman has not yet reached the Director of Public Prosecutions. So Deputy Chief Magistrate Mark Wellington was told when the former policeman, David Rattan, re-appeared in the San Fernando Magistrates Court on Tuesday. Rattan, 50, of Chatoor Drive, West Park, Cocoyea, is out on $100,000 bail.
He is charged with raping the woman on July 10, committing an act of serious indecency and with recruiting the woman into T&T or transporting or harbouring her for the purpose of exploitation. The charges were laid by PC Hector of the Counter-Trafficking Unit, Port-of-Spain. When the matter was called Rattan said his attorney, Subhas Panday, was in another court. Police prosecutor Sgt Denzil Ramoutar told the magistrate the DPP was prosecuting the case but the file had not reached his office.
The complainant was in court. Rattan, a real estate agent and used car dealer, is also on $150,000 bail on two other matters, including possession of a police uniform and indecent assault. The prosecutor said those matters were connected to the present charges and asked for the matter to be adjourned to the same day as the others. The magistrate granted the request and adjourned them to January.