(Trinidad Guardian) A High Court Judge has ordered a little over $150,000 in compensation to a former media worker who was wrongly arrested and charged by police while filming at a crime scene.
Akile Simon’s malicious prosecution and false imprisonment case against the State was set to go to trial before High Court Judge Frank Seepersad at the San Fernando High Court, yesterday morning.
However, when the case was called, attorney Ronelle Hinds, of the Office of the Attorney General, conceded liability in the case.
Justice Seepersad immediately went ahead to consider the appropriate compensation for Simon based on the circumstances of his case.
“It is always heartening when the State does the right thing in the best interest of justice. The court’s time should not be frivolously or unreasonably taxed by issues that ought not to be defended,” Justice Seepersad said.
According to the evidence in the case, Simon was arrested by police on August 19, 2018, while he was filming a crime scene at which a man was shot and killed by an off-duty police officer in Cocorite.
Simon, who was employed by television personality Ian Alleyne’s Crime Watch Studios, was quizzed by police officers over his presence at the location.
Simon told them he was a member of the media but failed to provide official identification, which he claimed was in his vehicle that was parked a distance away.
Simon was initially told that he was loitering but was eventually charged with obstructing one of the officers in the execution of his duties after he was arrested and taken to a police station.
He spent almost 12 hours detained in a holding cell before he was taken before a magistrate and released on $10,000 own bail.
