A chauffeur has initiated civil proceedings in the High Court against Justice Navindra Singh and is claiming $5 million in damages for what he says was his unlawful arrest and false imprisonment on the judge’s orders.
A Police Constable, identified as Blair, has also been named as a defendant in the action, which was filed on behalf of Dereck Moonsammy, a chauffeur employed by Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos.
In the filings seen by Stabroek News, Moonsammy, through lawyers Glenn Hanoman, Rexford Jackson and Everton Singh-Lammy, has filed a writ of claim against Justice Singh, citing claims of trespass to the person, assault, unlawful arrest, wrongful imprisonment and embarrassment, humiliation and nervous shock that he suffered.
Moonsammy is also seeking damages in excess of $5 million as well as an injunction restraining the judge from committing the same or similar unlawful acts towards him.
According to Moonsammy’s statement, on April 21st, 2016, while on the corridor of the High Court, he was arrested by the police constable, who was acting on the instructions of Justice Singh.
He noted that his job involves transporting De Santos to and from the courts and by virtue of a valid parking permit, he would usually park the vehicle in the court’s compound.
In his statement, the chauffeur said that he was not told the reason for the arrest and De Santos, who was present at the time, queried from the constable whether he knew the reason for the arrest. The constable, he said, replied that he is not aware of the reason but instead said he was acting on the instructions of Justice Singh.
The man went on to state that an altercation subsequently ensued. “Mr. Singh, with finger pointing in the face of Mr. De Santos, S.C told him (Mr. De Santos, S.C) not to interfere with the constable carrying out his instructions, otherwise he (Mr. De Santos, S.C) will be held in contempt,” he said.
“Mr. De Santos told Mr. Singh that he was not interfering with the constable carrying out his (Mr. Singh’s) instructions, instead he was advising Mr. Moonsammy and the constable what their legal rights and obligations are,” Moonsammy added.
According to the man, in response to the behaviour of Justice Singh, the constable held his hand and took him to the police outpost, where an entry was made. Moonsammy said that he was detained for one hour and given the fact this was his first arrest, he felt uncomfortable and humiliated by the defendants.
Moonsammy said that he was later informed that the judge had also ordered that De Santos’ vehicle be towed away but later reversed the instruction.
Moonsammy maintained that he has done nothing to warrant the excessive and unwarranted exercise of power by Justice Singh since he had always been respectful of him.
“All of this had come about because I would normally stop near the entrance to the bottom flat of the court building to allow Mr. De Santos to ascend the stairs…This had become necessary because Mr. De Santos S.C, now 78 year old and having had a stroke, found it very difficult to climb the stairs due to impaired balance,” he noted.
“Mr. Singh had told me not to park there. I explained that I did not park but merely stopped to assist Mr. De Santos, S. C. Where I stopped did not cause any obstruction or other problem; and Justice Persaud, whose parked vehicle was nearest to ours, had specifically agreed for us to stop here,” he added.
In his statement, Moonsammy suggested that Justice Singh, having threatened Mr. De Santos S.C with imprisonment for contempt and not being able to pursue that course, “vented his spleen” on him instead.
