Police Inspector, 18438 Prem Narine, who was sentenced yesterday to a week in prison for insulting a magistrate was freed after several hours in custody following an order by the Chief Justice.
Narine was before Magistrate Rhondell Weaver testifying in the matter against convict Mohammed Ali, who is on trial for defrauding a businessman of over $2 million in phone credit by impersonating the Minister of Public Health, Volda Lawrence.
During Narine’s testimony, a request was made by him to the magistrate to refresh his memory from his statement, which was granted. After refreshing himself from his statement, sometime later, Narine once again asked to be refreshed. This request was denied by the magistrate, which angered Narine.
Narine then told the magistrate that he did not appreciate how she was speaking to him, which then resulted in an exchange of words between the two.
The magistrate then asked Narine to step out of the witness box and have a seat but he refused and attempted to leave the courtroom. Magistrate Weaver then ordered that the prosecutor arrest Narine, to which Narine stated that none of them could arrest him, given his higher police rank. A higher rank was later summoned and Narine was taken into the court lockups.
A charge of misconduct in court was later filed and the accused was sentenced to seven days behind bars.
Not long after the sentencing, attorneys George Thomas, Everton Singh-Lammy, Adrian Thompson and Siand Dhurjon appeared before Magistrate Weaver and requested to appeal the matter. This request was, however, denied by the magistrate.
Last evening, Singh-Lammy approached Chief Justice Roxane George in Chambers on behalf of Narine and after reviewing the application and hearing counsel, the Chief Justice ruled that the punishment of seven days was excessive and she ordered that pursuant to Section 64(3) of the Summary Jurisdiction (Magistrates) Act, Chapter 3:05, there be a “partial remission of the sentence imposed to reflect detention from the time the order of sentence was passed on the 22nd of May, 2019 to no later than 16.30 hrs” on the said day.
In 2016, Narine won the title of “CID top performer”. He was described as an excellent field worker, whose work has led to the arrest of several persons, the recovery of several firearms and ammunition, and the recovery of drugs and stolen properties.
