Lawyers representing the Trinidad businessman who a judge claimed had been abducted by officers of the Barbados Police Service last October, are reported to be seriously considering taking legal action against the Barbados constabulary.
In a Barbados Today report, the attorney who represented firearms dealer Brent Thomas during the prima facie stage of his criminal case revealed that legal action was being contemplated.
“At present, I am not at liberty to say. However, please rest assured that although I cannot discuss the particulars, any and all appropriate legal actions are currently on the table and are being considered at this time,” T&T attorney Jose Young told Barbados TODAY.
While he could not elaborate, other sources told the media house that “a constitutional motion is being actively considered against the Bajan police.”
This comes on the heels of an accusation made last week Tuesday by Trinidad judge Devindra Rampersad that Barbadian police abducted the 61-year-old Thomas to have him returned to Trinindad to face charges.
In his 97-page judgment on a constitutional review case brought against the Trinidad government, Justice Rampersad not only stayed the criminal charges against Thomas, but also ruled that the “international abduction” was executed in cahoots with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS).
According to the judge, Thomas was removed from his hotel room in Barbados where he was staying while in transit to Miami to see his cardiologist, and was detained by the Barbados Police Service at the request of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service.
Justice Rampersad said that the claimant, who is the owner of Specialists Shooters Training Centre, an authorised importer and dealer of firearms and ammunition, was taken away in handcuffs by a large group of armed men dressed in black after being awakened by banging on the door and shouts of “police.”
The alleged abduction has sparked a chain reaction reaching to the highest levels of government and the police in Barbados and in Trinidad and Tobago.
Barbados’ Attorney General Dale Marshall has already said he had asked Commissioner of Police Richard Boyce for a report on the matter. The commissioner has declined comment, except to say that the report must first be submitted to the AG.
On Thursday, Chairman of the Barbados Police Complaints Authority (PCA) attorney-at-law Mark Forde disclosed that they will be writing to Commissioner Boyce shortly on the matter.
“We will be bringing up the matter at our next meeting of the authority in about three weeks, but in the meantime, we will write the commissioner expressing our profound interest in the matter and that we would want to be informed every step of the way in what we would expect to be the upcoming investigation,” Forde told Barbados TODAY.
“We would have an interest in it…we have the right, according to the act [PCA Act] to supervise investigations done by the police.”