Chief Magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar will decide the fate of former junior national security minister Collin Partap on July 30. Ayers-Caesar, presiding in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Court, dismissed Partap’s no-case submission yesterday. He is accused of failing to provide a breath sample to a police officer in 2012.
Dismissing the no-case submission, Ayers-Caesar said after considering all the evidence in the case, she believed state prosecutors made out a prima facie case against the former minister. “I am satisfied that a reasonable tribunal may convict on the evidence presented in this case thus far,” Ayers-Caesar said.
Immediately after the ruling, Senior Counsel Israel Khan, who is heading Partap’s legal team, stood up and told the Ayers-Caesar his client did not wish to testify or call witnesses in his defence. Khan then began his closing submissions in the case. Khan told Ayers-Caesar she had to be “morally certain that the prosecution proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt” before convicting his client. He also requested Ayers-Caesar to provide a written judgment when she decides the outcome of the case.
“If you are going to convict, we must know the reasons why,” Khan said. Partap is charged with failing to provide a breath specimen to a police constable when requested on August 26, 2012, at the corner of Keate and Frederick Streets, Port-of-Spain. He was fired by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, hours after the incident. He is still the Cumuto/Manzanilla MP.
According to evidence, Partap eventually passed a test at the Belmont Police Station hours after he was first stopped by the police. The test was done in the presence of acting Police Commissioner Stephen Williams, the complainant in the case. In his address, Khan also submitted that the breathalyser test could have only been administered at/or near to the location Partap had ben stopped by police. He questioned why his client was taken almost 2.5 miles away to the police station for a test to be administered.
Khan also said from the evidence in the case, the officers on the scene were all not qualified to operate breathalyser equipment. “Inability to provide a sample does not mean failure to provide a sample...That test could not be done at the location. At most he (Partap) delayed taking the test,” Khan said. In response, State prosecutor George Busby dismissed Khan’s submissions. Busby said from the evidence, the elements of the offence had been proven.
“There was no discrepancies or conflict in the evidence of any of these witnesses,” Busby said. Busby submitted the officers had reasonable cause to suspect Partap was intoxicated. “Partap did everything in his power not to take the test...I am not sure if he thought that the Police Commissioner would tell the officers to stand down. At least the system worked the way it was supposed to in this case,” Busby said.