APNU+AFC left gov’t with lawsuits, unpaid settlements

- AG says

ATTORNEY General Anil Nandlall, S.C., has called out the APNU+AFC for failing to compensate the families of those who perished in the horrific accident at Friendship, East Bank Demerara (EBD) in 2019.

The accident involved an escort car that was part of former President David Granger’s security entourage and a private car transporting several persons.

AG Nandlall addressed the matter on Tuesday during his weekly Facebook programme, Issues in the News. He used the opportunity to update the public about several legal issues.

On October 15, 2019, five persons – policeman Ronnel Barker; Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Sergeant, Leon Tucker; Lovern Stoby, a special constable attached to the Guyana Police Force; and Herbert Josiah and his wife Denise Josiah were killed in the accident while two persons survived.

Barker was the driver of the police vehicle at the time of the accident, while Tucker was driving the private car and was in the company of his aunt, Stoby and the Josiahs.

Surveillance footage captured motorcar PPP 515 moving at a moderate pace when a police vehicle slammed head-on into it.

The police vehicle spun several times before coming to a halt in a nearby drain.

Hours after the accident, Granger had ordered that an inquiry be held to determine the circumstances of the accident.

The board of inquiry report, which was compiled by former Deputy Commissioner of Police Paul Williams with support from then Senior Superintendents Calvin Brutus and Linden Isles, addressed the use of sirens by police and other emergency vehicles.

The inquiry also confirmed that speeding by the police was a major contributing factor to the accident.

With no satisfaction, the victims’ families have filed multi-million dollar lawsuits against the State.

“You know, they left those matters unattended. They never attempted to even compensate those persons. [Now] This government is burdened with settling those matters.

“The compensation that the people are asking for, running into millions, they left those people to die on the road and never met with the family, never offered them even their sympathies more so compensation,” the AG said.

He said that the current government is left to shoulder the responsibility of defending lawsuits filed against the State and is now forced to settle the matters because there is no evidence due to the timelapse.

“This is the type of lawlessness that permeated the country…. And now this government has to use taxpayer dollars to settle all his outstanding cases,” he said.

The AG said, what is even more surprising is that the APNU+AFC lawyers are representing the claimants in the lawsuits.

Similarly, in 2021, a 56-year-old Jamaican woman was awarded a $3.1 million judgement against the state after being unlawfully detained and kept in inhumane conditions at the East La Penitence Police Station in 2018.

Sandra Russell’s attorney, Darren Wade, in 2019, had filed a lawsuit in the High Court against the Attorney-General, the Commissioner of Police and the Chief Immigration Officer for wrongful imprisonment and inhumane suffering.

Wade had contended that Russell was falsely imprisoned by the police and immigration authorities, and that whilst in custody, she had no proper bedding, the food she was given was inadequate, the lock-ups had inadequate space and lighting, and ventilation was poor.

In 2018, Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court had sentenced Russell to eight months in prison after she pleaded guilty to a drug-trafficking charge. She was also fined $135,000.

The case against her was that on June 25, 2018, at Omai Landing, she had 70 grams of marijuana in her possession.

She was released early from the New Amsterdam Prison after her sentence was reduced by half.

On November 10, 2018, she was released and placed in the custody of a female immigration officer after being informed that preparations were being made for her deportation back to Jamaica.

However, she was taken to the East La Penitence Station and kept in custody for eight months. Finally, on July 7, 2019, Russell was released on $10,000 bail.