By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune News Editor
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE head boy of Westminster College was arrested, forced to sleep on the floor while in custody for 17 hours, and made to miss several BGCSE exams in what a Supreme Court judge ruled was a case of unlawful arrest and false imprisonment, awarding him $50,120 in damages and $12,000 in costs.
Justice Camille Darville-Gomez rejected the Office of the Attorney General’s argument that officers had reasonable suspicion that Demiko Rolle, Jr, had committed a crime when they arrested the then 17-year-old at his Adelaide residence in 2020.
After considering the facts of the case, the judge said there was “great suspicion” over why the boy was arrested.
According to the judgement, Mr Rolle claimed he was hanging out with friends on September 14, 2020, when he argued with a man known as Carroll. He claimed Carroll threw rocks at him, prompting him to throw a stone “to scare him”.
He said some of Carroll’s family members then approached him and his friends, including a police officer believed to be related to Carroll, who told him that he and his friends would be arrested.
He said two days later, several police cars swarmed his yard with flashing lights. Some officers had guns strapped on them, pistols on their sides and wore body cameras.
He said officers banged on his house door, which his mother opened after police showed Demiko Rolle, Sr, a search warrant.
He said he felt humiliated as he was handcuffed, escorted by police, and thrown in the trunk of a black SWAT police jeep in front of his neighbours.
He said two of his friends were also put in the jeep’s trunk, causing discomfort because the three were jammed together.
He said he was not told of his right to speak to his parents or hire an attorney and was not given a document to sign at the Airport Police Station.
“He laid on the cement floor and barely slept, and he was highly concerned about his health as the COVID-19 pandemic was going on and he was subjected to laying on the unclean cement floor in a small, indoor, enclosed environment along with other persons at risk of contracting COVID-19,” the judge wrote.
Mr Rolle testified that he couldn’t take his scheduled BGCSE history exam the next morning because he was in custody.
Although he was released around 2.15pm on September 17, he claimed he was never told the reason for his arrest, never questioned about criminal activity and missed his biology BGCSE exam.
“Also,” Justice Darville-Gomez wrote, “due to his experience with the police, he was so mentally distressed and shaken that he was unable to sit the BGCSE examinations the following day for math and English Language.”
“His arrest and detention in police custody caused him extreme embarrassment and humiliation in front of his neighbours and strangers as well as temporary mental stress.”
“He suffered financial loss as a result of having to pay to sit his BGCSE in 2021 and additional mathematics lessons.”
Several police witnesses testified during the trial: Inspector Akeem Wilson, Sergeant Hurvis Curtis, Jr, Constable Jeraldo Frazer and Sergeant Craig Thompson.
Insp Wilson said officers allowed Mr Rolle’s parents to read the search warrant, which was for firearm and dangerous drugs. He also testified that an unlicensed shotgun was recovered from the bedroom of the plaintiff’s father. The father reportedly said the gun’s licence expired during the pandemic and police instructed him what to do about this.
Constable Frazer testified that the youth was held in custody for suspected participation in organised crime and was released when instructions came from senior police officers.
Sgt Thompson claimed the boy was informed of his right to communicate with a parent and get a lawyer, but refused to sign the acknowledgement form.
Rejecting the defendants’ claims, the judge noted the search warrant was for dangerous drugs, firearms and ammunition but that the warrant did not specify whether the subject was the boy or his father.
She noted the father admitted to owning a firearm, but there was contradictory evidence about whether the weapon was confiscated, and the father was never arrested.
She said after searching the premises and not finding dangerous drugs, firearms and ammunition, the officers had no reason to suspect the plaintiff of a crime connected to the search warrant.
She said police produced no evidence showing they reasonably suspected the boy was involved in organised crime.
She also noted the plaintiff was never questioned or interviewed about any offence while in police custody.
“This raised great suspicion as to the true reason for the arrest,” she wrote. “Further, this calls into question the grounds upon which the search warrant for dangerous drugs, firearms and ammunition was issued by a Justice of the Peace.”
Mr Rolle, Jr, sought damages for breaches of his constitutional rights, special, exemplary, aggravated, and punitive damages. He sought $80k for compensatory damages, $50k for exemplary damages, plus special damages of $120.
Ultimately, the judge awarded him $35,000 in compensatory damages for unlawful arrest and false imprisonment, $15,000 for exemplary damages and $120 in special damages. She did not grant him damages for constitutional relief, finding his case did not have the “special features” that justify such awards.
“The plaintiff was a 17 year student and head boy at Westminster College,” she wrote, noting there was no evidence that he was “known to the criminal system”.
Bjorn Ferguson represented the plaintiff.
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