Eyebrows raised over test for prospective T&T judges

(Trinidad Guardian) A bat and ball together cost $1.10. The bat costs $1.00 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

This is not a question from a primary school test but one of the questions in section A of the 2017 Judicial and Legal Service Commission (JLSC) examination administered on January 12 this year and which formed the basis for elevation of five people, including former chief magistrate Marcia AyersCaesar, to the High Court.

The question was one of three in section A of the exam under the heading ‘Numerical Analysis’. Candidates were “reminded of the need to use proper language, correct spelling, standard grammar and orderly, legible and neat presentation” of their work.

The one-hour exam was part of what had been described by Chief Justice Ivor Archie as a “robust selection process by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission.” (Trinidad Express) A former police prosecutor has been found guilty of raping a then 17-year-old virgin at the police station when she went with her mother to make a report.

Former acting Seargent Harry Ramlochan was 50 years at the time he raped the child. He is now 65 years old. It took 16 years for the case to be completed.

The attack has severely scarred the victim for the rest of her life, prosecutor Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal said.

She said she hoped that through her resilience, the victim will be able to overcome the effects of the incident. After spending an hour and a half in the jury room, jurors found Ramlochan guilty on the charge of rape. The trial had lasted almost a month before justice Althea Alexis-Windsor in the San Fernando Second Criminal Court.

The jury heard from the victim and the accused during the proceedings.

The victim testified that on Saturday May 5, 2001 she went with her mother to the San Fernando police station to make a report that her mother had been beaten that morning.

Ramlochan took the mother inside to make the report and then said he wanted to take a statement from her daughter. Her mother advised her to go with him.

In her evidence the victim said that Ramlochan took her to a dormitory where he asked her if she had ever had sex. She told him she was waiting until marriage.

While speaking to her an officer came into the room and left. Ramlochan then tried to hug and kiss the girl and she pulled away.

He took victim by taxi to get change for $100 at upper High Street, San Fernando and returned and bought her a soft drink. The victim said he offered her a drink of rum but she refused. She also refused the money Ramlochan offered her when he took her to the Courts and Process Office.

He became upset and closed the door and pushed her against a cabinet and forcefully kissed her and bit her lips. He then pushed her against a wall and pulled down her pants and underwear. He pushed her on a sponge on the ground where he raped her.

He told her that should she tell anyone both of them will get in trouble. He then dropped the victim and her mother home and spoke to her father at a bar. The victim spoke to her teachers the following Monday and the next Wednesday she and her father made a report to the Police Complaints Authority (PCA).