(Trinidad Express) “What a joke!” was the exclamation made by the team of attorney who represented the nine former murder accused who were awarded $2 million for malicious prosecution in the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder case on Monday.
Those attorneys issued a statement yesterday following a media conference hosted by Attorney General Reginald Armour, SC, where he stated that an investigation is to be launched into why the State failed to file a defence in the malicious prosecution claim.
Armour also stated that the file in the matter had “disappeared” from the Solicitor General’s Department.
The nine men who brought the claim were freed in 2016 for the kidnapping and murder of businesswoman Vindra Naipaul-Coolman.
“The suggestion by AG Armour that we were successful in the malicious prosecution claim for the persons who were charged but freed by Justice Malcolm Holdip for the murder of the late Vindra Naipaul-Coolman because the file suddenly went missing is ridiculous and amusing. Clearly, Mr Armour has been watching far too much Netflix in his hotel in the Bahamas as this is a great fictional plot for a movie. He is about to hire a legal Hitchcock to solve a mystery that does not exist,” the attorneys stated in a joint media release yesterday evening.
Former attorney general Anand Ramlogan, Renuka Rambhajan and Ganesh Saroop were the attorneys who appeared on behalf of the former accused. In their statement they said that without fear of contradiction by anyone, the facts will easily demonstrate that the Ministry of the Attorney General was kept fully abreast of the case at every step of the litigation.
“Indeed, the court itself issued notifications to the State as the matter progressed and we fully complied with our duty to serve the relevant documents on the State throughout the course of the matter.
“Save and except for the worst form of mismanagement and incompetence it is virtually impossible to believe that a case which was filed on May 29, 2020 and completed on January 30, 2023 could have progressed through the legal system without the Attorney General’s knowledge and participation.
“Armour admitted that the State filed an appearance in this matter and was served with the application for default judgment. How on earth could the Attorney General actively participate in litigation for over two and a half years without a file?
“The court’s records can easily prove that the Attorney General was present and represented at the trial of the assessment of damages in this matter by Ms Karen Reid Ballantyne and Ms Amrita Ramsook. Each Claimant gave sworn evidence and answered questions posed by the court in this matter,” stated the release.
The attorneys went on to add that “we will not be their (the State’s) scapegoats in this matter.
“We did not free these men – a judge (Malcolm Holdip) and jury did; we did not fail to file a defence in this matter – the AG failed to do so; we did not fail to file any evidence at the trial of the assessment of damages – the AG failed to do so; we did not award our clients the sum of $20 million in compensation – the court gave the judgment,” the release stated.
