Court rules police violated man’s rights with ratchet-knife arrest

The Constitutional Court has declared that the constitutional rights of a St Catherine fireman were breached when he was unlawfully arrested by police in 2019 for possession of a ratchet knife and awarded him $119,000 in compensation.

The Government has also been ordered to pay his legal fees.

The court, comprising Justices Sonya Wint-Blair, Tricia Hutchinson Shelly, and Tara Carr, found that Shaquille Ashley’s rights under the Jamaican Constitution were infringed when he was arrested and detained by members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force on October 19, 2019.

“A declaration that Ashley’s rights to freedom of movement and liberty and security of person were breached when he was unlawfully arrested ... is granted,” the court said in a 67-page judgment handed down on May 22.

The unanimous decision was written by Hutchinson Shelly, who started out by saying that “even the smallest rights deserve the full protection of the law, for justice does not concern itself with matters of scale”.

“When the State, whether by indifference or oversight, disregards these rights, it falls upon courageous citizens to remind us all of a simple truth: constitutional freedoms are neither gifts nor privileges but enduring guarantees. To dismiss a claim as insignificant is to forget that every right vindicated strengthens the foundation of justice itself,” she said.

Ashley, who was convicted in the St Catherine Parish Court for being armed with an offensive weapon – a ratchet knife – was also charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The latter two convictions were quashed on appeal, though the offensive weapon conviction was upheld.

The judgment culminates a constitutional claim Ashley brought in 2021 against the clerk for the parish court; Alicia McIntosh, the judge who presided over his case; the Jamaica Fire Brigade, his employer at the time; and the attorney general of Jamaica.

The court awarded him $119,207 in compensatory damages for the breach of his rights following a 24-hour detention. However, it declined to grant additional vindicatory damages, ruling that compensation alone “meets the justice of the situation”.

The claim centred on whether Ashley’s detention following the seizure of the ratchet knife was justified under the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

NO LAWFUL GROUNDS

The court accepted that the police had no lawful grounds for the arrest under the circumstances.

Constable Michael Mannings, who conducted the search, provided no evidence that he had reasonable suspicion when he stopped and searched Ashley as he walked to work that evening in his community of Gore Tuca in Portmore, St Catherine.

“There was no escalation to warrant detention under the applicable legislation,” the court ruled.

“The detention lasted for a period of 24 hours,” a factor it considered in determining the monetary award.

The court did affirm “an individual may be lawfully arrested without a warrant where reasonable cause exists”.

It added that “it is important to note that Section 15 of the Constabulary Force Act grants police officers the authority to arrest without a warrant upon reasonable cause”.

Ashley also contended that the ban on ratchet knives under the Offensive Weapons (Prohibition) Act was unconstitutional and violated his rights, as he used the tool for work. However, the court rejected that challenge, ruling the legislative provisions were not shown to be arbitrary or unjustified in a free and democratic society.

Another aspect of the claim related to his suspension with half-pay by the Jamaica Fire Brigade following his arrest. Ashley argued that this action violated his constitutional right to be presumed innocent, to due process, and to the protection of property.

However, the court held that Regulation 41 of the Jamaica Fire Brigade Regulations permitted the suspension and found no constitutional breach.

“The salary reduction was fairly imposed ... [and] the right to protection of property has not been engaged,” the judgment read.

Ashley further complained that delays in the transmission of court records for his criminal appeal violated his right to a fair trial within a reasonable time. The court accepted that there was a significant delay – 443 days – but ruled that the delay did not rise to the level of a constitutional breach in the context of Jamaica’s overloaded court system.

“Unfortunately, the level of crime ... has provided more cases than the criminal courts ... are able to accommodate in short order,” the court said.

“A lapse of almost four years before a case comes on for trial is not considered so unreasonable” as to violate the Charter.

Attorney John Clarke represented Ashley, while Jevaughnia Clarke and Jovan Bowes, instructed by the director of state proceedings, represented the defendants.

The case was heard on October 28 and November 14, 2024.

editorial@gleanerjm.com