Police Constable remains in custody over leaked CCTV recordings; Court orders release of mother

High Court Judge Christel Lambert has ordered the release of the mother of the Police Constable who has been accused of receiving a bribe from the Leader of the Opposition for the alleged release of CCTV video recordings. However, the Judge ruled that the Constable’s arrest and detention were not unlawful.

Justice Lambert handed down the rulings this morning in a case brought against the State by Randy Greene, who is the father of Constable Ryan Green, and the husband of Nikita Greene.

The Constable and his mother were held in connection with the bribery allegations.

Through his lawyers, Randy Greene challenged the arrest and detention of both his son and his wife on the grounds that the authorities have failed to establish sufficient legal basis for holding them on suspicion of conspiracy to commit a felony.

In addressing first, the matter involving Nikita Greene, Justice Lambert ruled that while the Attorney General established that Nikita Greene received $300,000 from her son and surrendered that money to the Police, he did not point to any evidence that suggested that she knew that the money was derived from criminal activity, in particular the unauthorized removal or disclosure of electronic data.

Justice Lambert said that the mere receipt of money from a family member does not, without more, necessarily constitute criminal conduct.

“Having considered the evidence presented, the Court finds that the Respondent have failed to demonstrate objectively reasonable grounds for suspecting Nikita Greene of having committed a criminal offence. The affidavit does not establish the factual or legal basis upon which her arrest and continued detention were justified,” Justice Lambert ruled. The High Court Judge then ordered that Nikita Greene be released forthwith.

Reasonable Suspicion

However, in the case of Police Constable Ryan Greene, the Court found that his arrest was neither arbitrary nor without lawful justification.

Justice Lambert, in handing down her ruling said that the investigation did not arise in a vacuum as she pointed to the particulars of the matter.

“Surveillance footage originating from the Police Command Centre had been publicly disclosed, and the police maintained that the footage had been accessed, removed, disseminated without the requisite authorization. The disclosure of such material, allegedly obtained from a police-controlled electronic system without permission, provided an objective basis for investigating where criminal offences had been committed,” Justice Lamber said, while pointing to Cybercrime Act 2018.

The legislation, she said, relates to the unauthorized access to computer systems, the illegal acquisition of electronic data and the unauthorized disclosure of such data. However, she said the question before the Court was not intended to address whether Ryan Greene committed any such offence but whether at the time of his arrest, there existed objectively reasonable grounds of suspecting his involvement in criminal conduct.

Justice Lambert said having considered the evidence before the Court she was satisfied that the Police Constable’s arrest was not without lawful justification.

“…The Court is satisfied that Ryan Greene’s arrest was neither arbitrary nor without lawful justification. The police disclosure of surveillance footage alleged to have been removed without authorization from the Police Command Centre, taken together with the information received by the police concerning Ryan Greene’s suspected involvement in that disclosure, provided an objective basis for suspecting his involvement in conduct capable of constituting a criminal offence under the laws of Guyana,” the Judge ruled.

She said the Court was satisfied that the reasonable suspicion requirement contemplated by the Constitution was met at the time of his arrest. As such, the Court declined his father’s application to have him released.

Sound Ruling

The Attorney General, Anil Nandlall welcomed the decision of the Court to dismiss the application in the case of the Police Constable.

Ahead of that ruling, the Attorney General told the Court that the Police Constable in a video interview with the police, confessed that last week he received $800,000 from the Leader of the Opposition Azruddin Mohamed in exchange for CCTV recordings from the Guyana Police Force’s Safe Country Initiative Command Centre.

Though not addressing the content of the recordings, which showed the Head of the Special Branch Prem Narine allegedly shooting at the Opposition Leader’s vehicle, the Attorney General told the Court that the action of the Police Constable places the safety and security of every citizen of the country at risk.

“What is at stake here is the safety of every single citizen. The country safe camera programme that installs those cameras and monitors those cameras across the country, they capture the image of every single Guyanese, our children, our judicial officers, our military personnel, our president, our ministers, every single person, their images as they pass those cameras are caught. Those images can help to identify where persons are, their locations, their allege destinations, their whereabouts. So, those images if they fall into the wrong hands can jeopardize the safety of every single person in this country, and the greatest of scrutiny and regard must be placed on the integrity of that system and those who are in charge of the system,” the Attorney General told reporters.

He said the unauthorized downloading and dissemination of the surveillance recordings can grind the country to a halt, and plunge the country into a national emergency. He also expressed concern about the Opposition Leader’s involvement.

The Police Force, according to the Attorney General, will be moving to the Court to secure an extension of Ryan Greene’s detention beyond 72 hours. Additionally, at least one other police officer has been implicated.

Attorneys-at-Law Darren Wade, and Dexter Todd who represented the interest of the Police Constable in the Court hearing found favour with the ruling, particularly in the case of Nikita Greene.

Wade told reporters that there was no reason for Nikita Greene’s arrest.

“Why was this woman held? There is absolutely no reason whatsoever but I suspect that they held her that they want to pressure her son into something because you find that conduct of police. So, it was arbitrary, it was unwanted. It was unreasonable. It was totally wrong,” Wade told reporters.

Inside the courtroom, Wade had argued that while Ryan Greene was arrested, no offence was stated but there was just the expression of suspicion.

“We stand by that position that there is no offence known to the law. The Court views that there is reasonable suspicion of something not an offence. So. the court did not get into whether or not there is an offence,” Wade said.

The Police Constable remains in custody as the probe continues. The Leader of the Opposition, Azruddin Mohamed, was also taken into custody on Wednesday as part of the investigations into the release of the CCTV recordings.

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