Dear Editor,
Recent reports in the print and electronic media revealed that after an altercation involving Keron Joseph, the police and others, Joseph, a putative staff sergeant of the Guyana People’s Militia appeared before Magistrate Clive Nurse at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court charged with the following offences: assaulting a peace officer, resisting arrest, using indecent language, failing to produce a driver’s licence, driving an uninsured vehicle, driving an unlicenced vehicle, driving an uncertified vehicle; driving under the influence of alcohol, having a prohibited tint, conduct of driver and negligently interrupted the free flow of traffic. Apparently, the police threw the whole book at the recalcitrant driver for his atrocious behaviour which was recorded on camera. The driver pleaded guilty to all but the last charge and was fined a total of $227,750. According to the media the Magistrate also suspended Keron Joseph’s driver’s licence for one year.
I hold no brief for Keron Joseph, but I believe in justice and fair play. I have an abiding interest in law enforcement. Thanks to the media my views are at times made public.
The reports did not reveal which one of the offences listed attracted the suspension of the licence. I perused the Motor Vehicle and Road Traffic Act Chapter 51:02 and other relevant legislation and discussed the court case with a few senior police officers but did not find any law that empowered a Magistrate to suspend a driver’s licence for any of the charges alluded to above. If there is a law giving the Magistrate the power to suspend the driver’s licence in relation to any of the charges mentioned above I did not find any. Perhaps, I did not read the fine writings. If the law exists and is enforced it can open a can of worms and also it also has the potential to open the flood gates for corruption and inappropriate behaviour. More about that in another letter.
Maybe the Magistrate erred. In an effort to bring back sanity to the situation and to prevent a recurrence of what took place he suspended the licence.
I agree that the police must take condign actions to quell the lawlessness that is taking place on our roads where lives and limbs are in quotidian peril. Recently, some road users showed disrespect for traffic ranks in uniform in the execution of their duties. The police may want to react. However, in the enforcement process the police and Magistrates must be careful to operate within the ambit of the law or they will trample on the human rights of citizens. Justice must not only be done but must appear to be done. Let there be no miscarriage of justice. Let the rule of law prevail at all times.
Yours faithfully,
Clinton Conway
Assistant Commissioner of Police
(Retired)
