Dwaine Sandy should never have been re-arrested – DPP

Director of Public Prosecutions Colin Williams says that if certain guidelines had been followed, robbery suspect Dwaine Sandy would not have been arrested a second time by police.{{more}}

While a guest last weekend, on the IKTV television show, “Unrendered”, Williams told host Tony Regisford that he was not certain why the Brighton resident was picked up a second time after his June 19 release from police custody.

“I’m at a loss, to be honest, as to why he was picked up on the second occasion,” Williams told Regisford.

“Because there is a document that we have produced dealing with the identification through social media; this is like where you see suspects on social media.

“If this guide was followed, Dwaine Sandy would have never been picked up on a second occasion.”

Sandy was wanted by police, following the June 13 robbery of an employee of the postal corporation of over $100,000, and the shooting of police constable Julanie Jack during the commission of the crime.

Said to be in Grenada at the time, Sandy returned to St Vincent and the Grenadines on June 17, to be interviewed by police. He was detained until June 19, only to be re-arrested hours later, for what police described as “safe keeping”.

When asked by Regisford if he is of the view that the police erred, the DPP said that he didn’t know who erred, as to say it was the police would be painting a broad picture of the entire police force.

Williams also said that it was his opinion that Sandy should have been released as early as the afternoon of Monday, June 17.

“He came in on the Monday; by the Monday evening, my own advice was ‘release the man’, because by then there was sufficient information that Dwaine Sandy was not the person we were looking for, or that there was insufficient information upon which a charge could have been laid.

“The statement that he was picked up for protection sounds very strange to me,” Williams added.

“I don’t claim to know everything in the law, but I am unaware of why you would take somebody into protective custody, if they have not requested it; protective custody is something that you request.”

Weighing in on the topic, Dr Linton Lewis, president of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Bar Association and a senator of the New Democratic Party, said that there was a disconnect between the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Royal St Vincent and the Grenadines Police Force, which caused the unwarranted second arrest of Sandy.

“I get the impression that the DPP is saying that he may have indicated to the police that there is insufficient evidence to hold the gentleman, but then that person was picked up again,” Lewis noted. “If there is the cooperation and connection and continued communication, then that wouldn’t happen again without the DDP’s knowledge of it. I would presume that if further evidence came to light, which actually linked Dwaine Sandy to the offense, that they would have contacted the DPP and informed him that notwithstanding he had asked for the man to be released by virtue of the fact that there was insufficient evidence, they have since come into information which actually gives them the impression that he ought to be picked up.

“If that is not done, then there has to be a disconnect.”(JJ)