ROSEAU, Dominica, Apr 2, CMC – High Court judge, Justice Colin Williams, Wednesday ordered the state to pay EC$10,500 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents) to a former opposition legislator after he had been falsey imprisoned in August 2020.
Justice Williams said that Office of the Attorney General, oe of three defendants in the case, must pay EC$5,500.00 in damages to Daniel Lugay, who had been detained outside the residence of Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit on August 15, 2020.
In addition, the state has also been ordered to pay EC$5,000 in costs, “being the figure agreed to prior to the commencement of this matter”.
“The total sum of EC$10,500 shall be paid by the First Defendant by Wednesday the 30th of April 2025,” Justice Williams said in his ruling.
Lugay had claimed that he was assaulted and battered, wrongfully arrested, and falsely imprisoned or kidnapped, by police officers on August 15, 2020. He had sought remedies from the State, in particular damages for what he believes are torts committed by agents of the State.
At the time of the incident, Lugay, was the elected representative for the Roseau North constituency in the Parliament and was a member of the opposition United Workers Party, (UWP).
He was was arrested outside of the resident of Prime Minister Skerrit at Morne Daniel on the outskirts of the capital by then Inspector of Police, Michael Sebastien, the second defendant, who is now an Assistant Superintendent of Police.
The court was told that the second defendant was all material times, the Supervisor of the Protective Services Unit (PSU), Special Branch Department (SB), both of which provides security for the President and the Prime Minister and their respective families.
The Court heard that when Lugay was arrested by Sebastien he was placed in the custody of Martin Anatol, the third defendant, and transported to the police headquarters in the capital.
The judge said that during the trial, there were material conflicts of the narratives of Lugay and the defendants particularly relating to what transpired on the road at the entrance to the driveway of the Prime Minister’s house and the context in which the interaction between the Lugay and the police officers occurred.
“Most aspects of the evidence were however not in dispute,” Justice Williams said, adding that the evidence reveals that the two police officers dealt with Lugay in a decisive and confident manner.
He said Lugay suffered no physical injury. Apart from the tort of unlawful imprisonment, what Lugay demonstrated was that he experienced hurt feelings.
“The Claimant was falsely imprisoned when he was unreasonably and unlawfully detained beyond what was necessary, and even after the Second Defendant knew that the Claimant was not the person of interest who was involved in harassing, obstructing and verbally abusing the Prime Minister,” Justice Williams said.
CMC/aj/ir/2025