Bridgetown.
Justice Margaret Reifer has thrown out the application for an injunction filed by Darwin Dottin urging the High Court to reinstate him as Commissioner of Police.
In delivering the decision in a 45-minute hearing in chambers, Justice Margaret Reifer, in disallowing the injunction filed on behalf of Dottin, ruled there were no special circumstances to disturb the normal principle that you should not force an employee on a reluctant employer.
The court’s ruling is a major victory for the Police Service Commission, which had recommended to the Governor-General, that Dottin be sent home in the public interest.
Justice Reifer ordered that a case management conference be held on October second for a judicial review of the matter to determine the way forward.
It was through his lawyers,Queen Counsels Elliott Mottley and Leslie Haynes, that Dottin had argued the letter sent to him by the Police Service Commission (PSC) on June 17, was invalid and ineffectual.
They were also contesting that the decision or advice was in breach of the principles of natural justice and that it was also an improper and irregular, or unreasonable exercise of discretion.
The suspended Commissioner was also asking the court to constrain the Service Commission from carrying out an enquiry, which it intended to do.
On the recommendations from the PSC, Governor-General, Sir Elliott Belgrave sent the top cop on administrative leave, pending the outcome of his enforced retirement “in the public interest.”
Dottin’s troubles with the force’s governing body escalated after investigations into allegations of illegal wiretapping by the Royal Barbados Police Force were initiated by the Police Service Commission.
In a document of its subsequent findings, which was served on Dottin and subsequently lodged in the Supreme Court, the PSC highlighted that probably for the first time Barbados found itself in a “dangerous and untenable” position in relation to policing activity.
The body charged that there was “irrefutable evidence” that the force had been bugging the phones of several Barbadian citizens who were not known or suspected to be involved in any criminal activity. This action had made law-abiding citizens afraid to use their telephones. It was described as “disturbing” that much of the wiretapping activity seemed to be politically motivated.
The court document also alleged that the phones of a number of senior police officers, magistrates and members of the PSC had also been tapped.
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