Court in Trinidad awards millions in compensation to children detained at adult prison facilities

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – A High Court judge in Trinidad on Friday awarded more than $3 million in compensation to a brother and sister after ruling that their constitutional rights were violated when they were unlawfully detained in adult prison facilities while they were still minors.

“This court must register its disgust at the defendants’ conduct toward Brian and Sasha. The defendant must be punished for such appalling conduct. It is shocking that this appalling conduct was committed by the State, which has a legal obligation to protect all minors,” Justice Margaret Mohammed said as she ordered the State to pay TT$1.85 million in compensatory and vindicatory damages to Brian Seepersad’s estate and TT$1.23 million to Sasha Seepersad.

The judge cited inhumane conditions and institutional negligence during their prolonged detention.

The judgment followed a 2021 ruling by the Privy Council, which had upheld an appeal against the Court of Appeal’s refusal to grant constitutional relief.

The Privy Council found that the State violated the children’s right to protection of the law under Section 4(b) of the Constitution when they were remanded to the Youth Training Centre (YTC) and the Arouca Women’s Prison, respectively, after being jointly charged with murder alongside two adults in January 2014.

Brian, who was 13 at the time of his arrest, endured 818 days of unlawful detention in conditions the court described as “appalling and oppressive.”

He died in March 2020 during a police operation after escaping from the YTC months earlier.

His mother and legal representative, Karen Mohammed, was awarded TT$850,000 in compensatory damages and TT$1 million in vindicatory damages on his behalf.

Sasha, who was 15 when arrested, was held for 730 days in the Women’s Prison and later at St Jude’s Home for Girls.

She was subjected to routine strip searches, feared sexual abuse, received minimal educational access, and was denied the ability to practice her Muslim faith.

Justice Mohammed noted that Sasha “was robbed of her innocence” during her detention and awarded her TT$730,000 in compensatory damages and TT$500,000 in vindicatory damages.

The judge said the state had an obligation to provide proper facilities for minors presumed innocent until proven guilty, but instead exposed both children to degrading, unsafe, and psychologically damaging environments.

She said Brian endured sexual abuse, constant bullying, and confinement in unsanitary, overcrowded cells, and his innocence was “perverted and the trauma he suffered was immense.”

Justice Mohammed described Sasha’s treatment as humiliating and dehumanising, and that the children were not only unlawfully detained but were treated as if they had already been convicted.

The judge further condemned the State for misleading judicial authorities for nearly a decade regarding the true conditions of Brian’s detention and for failing to implement key recommendations from the Children’s Authority to support his mental and emotional recovery.

“The defendants did not make appropriate arrangements for Brian and Sasha upon detaining them,” the judge said, adding that the authorities “intentionally and deliberately chose” to disregard reports on the suitability of the institutions and did nothing to address the conditions the siblings were kept in.

“By doing so, the defendants were aware that their actions were unlawful. In my opinion, the period of Brian and Sasha’s unlawful detention was institutional inertia by the defendants, as nothing was actively done to ensure that Brian and Sasha were housed in facilities that met the standards of a community residence.

“It was particularly disturbing as the period of unlawful detention for both Brian and Sasha was long.

“The court must register its disgust at the defendant’s conduct towards Brian and Sasha. The defendants must be punished for such appalling conduct, and the court must send a strong message in order to deter the defendants, their servants, and or agents from repeating the conduct as was demonstrated in this action.”

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