A police investigation was conducted into the allegation that attorney Nirvan Singh assaulted and hurled racial insults to Woman Police Constable Shawnette Bollers and the case file has been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for legal advice.
This was confirmed by Commissioner of Police (ag) Clifton Hicken, who told Stabroek News that the police are currently awaiting feedback from the DPP on the way forward in the matter.
“An investigation was done and the file was submitted to the DPP for legal advice,” Hicken said when contacted.
According to him, the case file was forwarded to the DPP’s Chambers a few days ago.
Hicken said once legal advice is obtained, the public will be updated. “…We are going to let the public know what’s the outcome,” he said.
Police had been silent since the surfacing of the allegations in which Bollers claimed occurred while she was performing guard-duties at the residence of Singh’s father, retired Chancellor Justice Carl Singh.
Bollers has since filed a $150,000,000 lawsuit against Nirvan Singh.
In her statement of claim, Bollers stated that while on duty at Justice Singh’s Middle and Cummings Street, George-town residence on the night of March 20, his son, approached and chased her off the property.
She said that she was forced to immediately abandon her post and duties, having to walk for a couple of miles to another location “in the dark of night alone.”
She said that Singh in a “loud and aggressive” manner berated her for about quarter of an hour, then began using a series of defamatory words and racist expressions.
Through her attorney, Eusi Anderson, Bollers alleged that the defamatory words and descriptions used by the defendant against her are “untrue, malicious and uttered in undiluted falsehood.”
Bollers deposed in her claim that her reputation has been “seriously injured” by the things she said Singh used to describe her, which she said have also subjected her to ridicule and lowered her in the estimation of right-thinking persons in society.
She added that despite her lawyer having written to Nirvan Singh demanding an apology and retraction, neither has happened.
She said that her claim rests on the fact that the alleged slander occurred while she was fully clad in uniform and on duty; while noting that the younger Singh had no authority to demand that she leave the premises, as she was not rostered to guard him, but rather his father.
Bollers said that the man failed to follow protocol for the reporting and removal of a rank from the location.
Because of the alleged slander, Bollers said she had to seek counselling and therapy to help restore her “normal sleep and eating patterns ravaged by the slander and attendant events.”
In a statement, the opposition People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) had called on the leadership of the GPF to ensure the matter was not “swept under the carpet,” while also urging that the policewoman receives all the support she needs to overcome emotional distress.
The party also called on the Women and Gender Equality Commission and the Ethnic Relations Commission to investigate the incident.
It further called on the Guyana Bar Association to publicly condemn the conduct of the attorney and to impose appropriate sanctions.
