The prisoner, who sparked a police probe into allegations of exaggerated civil assault lawsuits from prisoners seeking compensation from the State, has been awarded $20,000 in compensation for a beating by police. In a decision in the Port-of-Spain High Court yesterday Master Patricia Sobion-Awai said although Jamal Sambury was caught red-handed lying about the extent of the injuries he suffered, he was still entitled to compensation as there was no dispute that he was in fact beaten. Sambury’s award paled in comparison with the over $90,000 given to each of the three other prisoners, whose individual police and prison brutality lawsuits were alleged “to be copied and pasted” to create his.
Describing Sambury as a “unconvincing and unreliable witness,” Sobion-Awai said she rejected both his tainted witness statement and his subsequent oral evidence given before her earlier this year to buttress his case. “I was particularly unimpressed by the claimant’s attempt at explaining how he was able to brace lashes to his face while his hands were supposedly handcuffed behind his back,” Sobion-Awai said. As a consequence of his transgression, Sobion-Awai ruled that Sambury was not entitled to interest on his compensation and his legal fees being paid by the State, two usual entitlements of successful litigants. Sambury filed the assault and battery lawsuit in 2011 after he claimed he was beaten by a group of baton-wielding police officers in a holding cell at the Princes Town Magistrates Court after his court appearance on October 8, 2010.
While the State accepted liability, it disputed the gravity of Sambury’s injuries, which included broken and fractured ribs, bruises about his body and a perforated ear drum. In her ruling yesterday, Sobion-Awai said after comparing all the evidence before her, including medical reports prepared by State doctors, she could only conclude Sambury only suffered swelling and soft tissue damage to his elbow and knee. Sobion-Awai also reversed her previous policy restricting media coverage of the case as she said members of the public should be granted permission to attend to promote transparency and open access to courts. Contacted yesterday, a source close to the ongoing probe said it had reached an advanced stage with only a handful of witnesses left to be questioned by a team of investigators led by Asst Police Commissioner (ACP) Donald Denoon. It is expected to be completed before the end of the year. Sambury’s two previous lawyers—Gerald Ramdeen and Varun Debideen—and the doctor who examined the prisoner are yet to be interviewed.
Case history
Sambury’s case shot into the limelight this year after the publication of a newspaper report on a previous judgment Sobion-Awai delivered on February 5, when she raised issues about the veracity of Sambury’s claim. She referred her findings to the Disciplinary Committee of the Law Association and Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC, recommending a criminal probe by the police.