GUYANA | SOCU Police Officers hide Bailiff to avoid Service in Criminal charges by Lawyer

GEORGETOWN, Guyana, December 9, 2022 - Guyanese Attorney-at-law Tamieka Clarke who was wrongfully arrested on October 28 by the police for advising her client as to his rights under the law, says that there is a concerted effort by the police to avoid service of private criminal charges by hiding from the Bailiff, often in the offices of the Police Force’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU).

In a statement today Ms Clarke’s attorney, C. A. Nigel Hughes, of the law firm of Hughes, Fields and Stoby, pointed out that “On the 17th of November 2022, Ms. Clarke instituted  private criminal charges of  wrongful confinement and wrongful restraint  contrary to sections 6 and 8 of the Kidnapping Act Chapter 10:02 of the Laws of  Guyana against Superintendent  Krishnadat Ramana, Sergeant Navranda Persaud and Sergeant Winston Singh. 

The statement noted that “Bailiffs from the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court attended the offices of the Police Force’s Special Organised Crime Unit (SOCU) on four occasions to effect service of the private criminal charges against the aforementioned officers and on each occasion they were informed that the officers were not present.”

On the 7th of December, Ms Clarke’s Attorneys wrote to the Commissioner of Police informing him of the evasion of service of the private criminal charges on the Officers of SOCU, however,  there was no acknowledgement of receipt of the letter by the Office of the Commissioner.

On the 9th December, both officers Ramana and Persaud were observed in the SOCU office when service was attempted for the fourth time by the bailiff of the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court. The bailiff was however presented with a story that the officers were out in the field.

According Mr. Hughes, after four attempts to effect service on the Officers of SOCU, the bailiff has since informed Ms Clarke’s Attorneys that  no further attempt at service will be undertaken.

These evasive tactics are not only being practised by the police, the attorneys intimated. The Director of Public Prosecutions Mrs. Shalimar Ali Hack S.C., has been written to since the 9th of November inquiring about the status of the investigation into her wrongful arrest by the officer of SOCU on the 28th day of October 2022. 

The letter pointed out that in a Newsroom article posted on November 4, entitled "Investigation into arrest of lawyer complete, file sent to DPP", an investigation in relation to the arrest of Ms. Clarke was conducted by the Guyana Police Force's Office of Professional Responsibility and the file has been sent to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

The letter sought to ascertain as to "the status of the file and whether any actions have been taken by you since the file's passing over to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions." To date, Mr. Hughes said, “No response was received from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Its understood that with the Director of Public Prosecutions, Shalimar Hack and the Police Commissioner Clifton Hicken both failing to respond, lawyers for Ms Tamieka Clarke will now move to the High Court to seek an order compelling police commissioner Hicken to accept service of the charges on behalf of the SOCU agents, Superintendent  Krishnadat Ramana, Sergeant Navranda Persaud and Sergeant Winston Singh, in order to have them appear in court to answer the private criminal charges.

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