Jamaican woman awarded GUY$3.1 million compensation for being illegally detained in Guyana
Guyana’s Acting Chief Justice, Roxane George, awarded compensation totalling GUY$3.1 million (One Guyana dollar=US $0.008) to a 56-year-old Jamaican woman who had been illegally detained in prison for eight months.
Attorney Darren Wade had filed a multi-million-dollar lawsuit against the State to breach Sandra Russell’s fundamental rights to freedom after members of the Guyana Police Force had unlawfully imprisoned her.
Russell had asked the State for GUY$10 million per day for every day she had been in unlawful custody, above GUY$20 million for the inhumane and degrading treatment she had endured in the lockups, GUY$20 million for the breach of her freedom of movement and GUY$50 million for false imprisonment.
She had been wrongfully detained at the East La Penitence Police Station in Georgetown's capital, shortly after being released from prison after serving a sentence for trafficking narcotics.
Russell said that she had become depressed and stressed since the ventilation at the station was poor, and forced to sleep on a thin mattress on the concrete floor.
In 2018, Russell was sentenced to eight months in prison and fined GUY$135,000 by Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan to possess 70 grams of cannabis. But she had her sentence reduced to three and a half months.
However, on November 10, 2018, Russell was released to a female Immigration Officer who told her that she deported to Jamaica. But that never materialised, and instead, she was kept in custody at the East La Penitence Police Station and released eight months later on GUY$10,000 bail on July 7, 2019.
Lawyers representing the State had asked the High Court to dismiss the application claiming that the Jamaican Consulate in Guyana could not ascertain Russell’s identity and links to Jamaica which prompted further investigations since her deportation was now complicated.
The lawyers argued that Russell was kept in custody according to the Immigration Act and was considered a “prohibited immigrant” while an investigation was being conducted on her identity.
But in her ruling, the acting Chief Justice, said “the State must do better regarding facilities for the incarceration of persons.
“The claim of so-called third world status cannot be permitted as a continual excuse for poor conditions and cannot be countenance as being the best the State can do.”
Justice George said that under the Immigration Act, the applicant should have been kept in custody for three months while established a tribunal.
She awarded Russell GUY$2.5 million for compensatory damages and GUY$600,000 for being subjected to poor conditions while being wrongfully detained.
The State has also ordered to pay GUY$250,000 in costs.
The Acting Chief Justice also ordered Russell should leave Guyana as soon as possible at her own expense.
“Since the applicant is not a citizen of Guyana and has overstayed her time unless the State grants some accommodation, she must leave. This should not be at the expense of the State. As such, unless she can stand the expenses of her return to her home country, which such expense is to deducted from the award,” Justice George said.
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