00:00Just two days after seven police officers had charges of misbehavior in
00:04public office against them discharged because the state could not provide
00:08information on whether the police file had been submitted to the DPP's office
00:12for a state attorney to be appointed, five other police officers were charged
00:17with a similar offense were allowed to walk free again today as the state had
00:21not complied with directives of the court. The police officers were accused
00:25of accepting a $30,000 bribe to halt the prosecution of a businessman. During a
00:32sufficiency hearing, Master Cyril De Silva dismissed the charges against
00:36the officers Kenan Williams, Evans Mitchell, Latifa Lizama, Kevin Gomez and
00:41Jabari McIntyre. This came following repeated non-compliance by the
00:46prosecution regarding orders given by the court that had to be followed before
00:50the cases could proceed to trial. On a number of previous occasions, the master
00:55granted extensions of time for the prosecution to correct its procedural
01:00errors. However, when the matter came up for hearing earlier today, the directors
01:04were still not complied with. Attorney Renuka Rambajan, who appeared on behalf
01:08of the officers, had also previously called for the matters to be dismissed.
01:12Those requests were denied but today Master De Silva said because of the
01:17repeated non-compliance by the prosecution, she had to rule in favor of
01:21the defense. In doing so, the master also denied an application by the state to
01:26pursue conspiracy charges against the officers, stating that they can only be
01:31tried for what was stated on the indictment. It was only on Monday that
01:35seven other police officers were discharged on charges of misbehaving
01:38public office in similar fashion. None of the police officers from the
01:42Professional Standards Bureau who brought the charges against the seven
01:46officers showed up for the hearing on Monday. Those officers were charged in
01:502023 in connection with the alleged extortion of a businessman in the
01:54Sangu Gandhi area. Mark Besant, TV6 News.
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