The criminal case against a pastor, a former school principal, a lawyer and three other people charged with one of the first major human-trafficking cases in Trinidad and Tobago collapsed in court on Tuesday.
Presiding magistrate Brambhanan Dubay upheld no-case submissions on behalf of the six accused in the Arima Magistrates Court.
Pastor Glen Awong, head of Transformed Life Ministry, had been jointly charged with principal Cheryl Kallicharan Beharry, Anthony Marchan, Robert Andrews, attorney Lena Jaggernath and her mother Indra Jaggernath with trafficking in persons, kidnapping and false imprisonment, in December 2019.
On October 8, 2019, the Special Operations Response Team (SORT), now disbanded, led by then police commissioner Gary Griffith, went to Transformed Life Ministry's rehabilitation centre in Arouca. There police said the team rescued 69 people, some of whom, they claimed, were naked and locked in cages. Police said they also found and seized handcuffs, batons and Tasers.
The group was represented by a team of lawyers including Wayne Sturge, Mario Merritt, Alexia Romero, Danielle Rampersad, Survana Jaimungal and Sherry Sookdeo.
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