Suspect in Chancellor shooting denied bail
Meschach Quamina. - TTPS
While his attorneys were before the court seeking his freedom, the only surviving suspect in the police-involved shooting at Lady Chancellor Hill was charged and taken to the magistrates’ court, where he was denied bail.
Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell had approved a writ of habeas corpus for Meschach Quamina ordering the police to appear before her on Wednesday to justify why he was his detained for four days after he was held in connection with in the incident on January 13.
But on the same day, Quamina appeared before deputy Chief Magistrate Cherril-Anne Antoine at a virtual court hearing on a charge of common assault.
Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell. -
A Point Fortin man who was dragged to an unsanitary area near a washroom at the Bikini Bottoms” event in Point Fortin in August 2017 will receive $.1 million in compensation for the “egregious and heavy-handed” assault by the police.
In a decision on the quantum of damages for casual labourer Kriston Aguillera, Justice Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell said compensation was appropriate because of “the retaliatory nature of the assault and the need for deterrence of this type of conduct” by the police.
She awarded Aguillera, 26, a total of $135,000.
The judge had previously delivered an oral decision on liability at a virtual hearing of the trial in October. The decision on the assessment of the amount of compensation was reserved. Last month, Donaldson-Honeywell gave her decision on compensation, saying, “The conduct of the police officers in launching a retaliatory physical attack on a civilian is an abuse of their powers.