Court of Appeal clears the way for charges against senior cop, constable

The Court of Appeal has cleared the way for the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM) to bring charges against a senior police officer and a constable arising from the shooting death of a man in 2012.

Following an investigation into the controversial killing of Donald Chin at his home in Rose Heights, St James on October 31, 2012, INDECOM recommended that Constable Worrel Latchman be charged with murder.

The oversight body also recommended that Deputy Superintendent Everton Tabannah, who led the operation in which Chin was killed, be charged with making a false statement with intent to mislead.

But before they were formally arrested and charged, Latchman and Tabannah, through their attorneys, went to the Supreme Court and got an injunction blocking INDECOM from filing charges.

The Supreme Court, in its June 2016 ruling, also granted both cops leave to seek judicial review of INDECOM’s refusal to share with them the evidence collected during the investigation.

INDECOM went to the Court of Appeal and challenged that ruling.

The oversight body argued that the Supreme Court judge who presided over the case was plainly wrong in granting leave because, among other things, disclosure in civil cases is not available where a person is to be charged with a criminal offence because disclosure will be made as part of the proceedings.

Yesterday, the Court of Appeal, the nation’s second highest court, agreed with the legal arguments presented with INDECOM and overturned the decision of the Supreme Court.

The Appeal Court also refused applications by both cops for an injunction blocking their arrests and leave for judicial review.

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