Trinidad and Tobago's Attorney General, Reginald Armour, has apologised to Barbados for a comment made by a High Court judge – which he described as a "slur" – in the case of the arrest of firearms dealer Brent Thomas in Barbados last year.
Even as Armour conceded that Thomas was "unlawfully" removed from Barbados, he apologised to Barbados for the use of the word "abduction" by Justice Devindra Rampersad in his ruling on Thomas' civil suit.
His statement in Parliament came a day after his Barbadian counterpart, Dale Marshall, presented a statement to the Barbados parliament about Justice Rampersad's ruling. Armour also issued a 17-page statement to media houses, which included critiques of the judgment which were not read in Parliament.
"I offer to the government and the Royal Barbados Police Force my apologies for the slur which has been cast on the actions of the Royal Barbados Police Service who, consistent with the law and their oaths of office, were assisting the TT Police Service to the best of their ability in the investigation of alleged crimes, in seeking to bring an alleged fugitive to justice," Armour said.
He prefaced his statement with a caveat, saying, "Let me add immediately that nothing that I say here in this statement falls outside of our permitted hierarchical judicial structure, tiered to include within the hierarchy of our Supreme Court that, judges at first instance may make errors in the discharge of their judicial functions and the Court of Appeal exists to correct those errors."
But despite this, the objections to Armour's statement came swiftly from the Opposition.
Among the first to object was Naparima MP Rodney Charles who raised the sub judice rule.
"The Honourable Attorney General says he has put the case on appeal and if it is on appeal, he cannot talk about the substantive merits of the case," Charles said.
His objection was shut down by deputy Speaker Esmond Forde but within minutes, Charles was on his feet again.
"We cannot comment on the conduct of any person, including a judge and he is saying the judge could make an error, it is clear," Charles said.
But Forde was unmoved and allowed Armour to continue.
The AG gave an update on the State's appeal of Justice Rampersad's ruling, saying an application was being filed in the Court of Appeal to hear this matter before all others as a matter of urgency.
Armour said he has given instructions to London solicitors to retain English counsel to work with local attorneys for the appeal.
Addressing Justice Rampersad's use of the word "abduction" in his ruling, Armour said there was no evidence that the TTPS acted with criminal intent in pursuing Thomas to Barbados and bringing him back to TT.
"There can be no criminal offence of abduction, involving criminal intent, unless such criminal intent was shown, beyond reasonable doubt to have been present in the minds of the officers of the TT Police Service," he said.
But he also noted that the part of Rampersad's ruling which addressed Thomas' removal and return t
