Gross violation!
Published:Sunday | March 6, 2011 | 12:00 AM
Corporal Malica Reid, who was arrested and charged last month by investigators from the Independent Commission of Investigations (INDECOM), is seeking several declarations and orders from the Judicial Review Court.
He has named the commissioner of the Independent Commission of Investigations, Terrence Williams, as the first respondent.
The other respondents are the attorney general, the director of public prosecutions (DPP), Isiah Simms, and Eric Daley, who are INDECOM investigators.
Reid is seeking the following declarations:
That the INDECOM Act, on its true and correct interpretation, does not confer on the commissioner the power to arrest and/or charge anyone for any criminal offence.
That the act, on its true and correct interpretation, does not confer on the commissioner the power to arrest and/or charge anyone for the criminal offence of murder.
That the act, on its true and correct interpretation, does not confer on the commissioner the power to arrest and/or charge a member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force for the offence of murder, arising from circumstances that occur in the execution of his duties, unless the third defendant (the DPP) so rules.
That under the Police Services Regulations 1961, now in force under and pursuant to the Constitution of Jamaica, the applicant could not and/or cannot be lawfully charged for the offence of murder, arising from circumstances that occur in the execution of his duties, unless the DPP so rules.
That the right of the applicant under Section 13 of the Constitution of Jamaica to protection of the law was contravened in that he was deprived of a legitimate expectation, derived in part from the practice and custom of the third respondent (DPP), that the applicant could not and/or cannot be lawfully arrested and/or charged for the offence of murder, arising from circumstances that occur in the execution of his duties, unless the DPP so rules.
That the right of the applicant under Section 15 of the Constitution not to be unlawfully deprived of his personal liberty, was contravened when the commissioner, by himself and/or the fourth and the fifth respondents, and in the alternative by the fourth and fifth respondents in their capacities as private citizens, unlawfully arrested and detained the applicant and placed him in the custody of the police at the Savanna-la-Mar Police Station jail.
That the right of the applicant under Section 15 of the Constitution not to be deprived of his personal liberty was further contravened "when the commissioner, by himself and/or the fourth and fifth respondents, and in the alternative by the fourth and fifth respondents in their capacities as private citizens, having unlawfully detained and arres-ted the applicant and placed him in the custody of the police at the Savanna-la-Mar Police Station jail, caused him to be further deprived of his liberty by being transported part of the way to another police station jail in the parish of Westmore-land, and caused/or procured and/or instigated that he be so kept in custody and deprived of his liberty until about 4:30 p.m. the said day.
Reid claims that the actions taken against him were arbitrary and unreasonable and were based on no law, regulation, rule, order, or lawfully established policy. He says they were repugnant to the procedures and guidelines set out in the Police Service Regulations 1961. He states further that they violate his legitimate expectation to a ruling from the DPP whether he should be arrested and/or charged for murder. He describes the actions taken against him as a violation of his constitutional rights.