Appeal Dismissed in Acquitted Cops Case
The Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal has dismissed the Director of Public Prosecutions’ appeal against the acquittal of former police officers Pamphill Prevost and Simon Power on a charge of conspiracy to steal. The court upheld a High Court ruling that the prosecution's key witness was unreliable and that no properly directed jury could convict.
The Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal has rejected an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) seeking to overturn the acquittal of two former Royal Virgin Islands Police officers, Pamphill Prevost and Simon Power. Prevost and Power had been jointly charged under section 311(1) of the Criminal Code 1997 with conspiring between January 1, 2012 and July 31, 2014 to steal cash seized during the execution of their duties.
The Crown’s case relied largely on the testimony of Michael Isles, a former member of the Police Proactive Unit, who gave evidence under a conditional immunity agreement. Isles told the court that during a trip to Dominica in October 2013 Prevost said he had formed a “clique” within the Proactive Unit that included Shawn Henry, Simon Power and himself, and that during cash operations the group would remove money from seizures and share it.
Isles also said he was invited to join and agreed. At the close of the prosecution’s evidence the defence made a submission of no case to answer. The trial judge reviewed Isles’ testimony and, noting inconsistencies and admissions that emerged under cross-examination, found the witness’s evidence unreliable and upheld the no-case submission, resulting in acquittals for Prevost and Power.
On appeal the DPP argued the judge erred, but Justice of Appeal Anthony Gonsalves, delivering the Court of Appeal judgment, said appellate courts should not interfere with trial judges’ findings of fact unless they are plainly wrong. The court emphasised that this standard is applied even more stringently in appeals against acquittals entered after a no-case submission.
The Court of Appeal found “several crucial bits of evidence” where Isles appeared to be untruthful rather than merely mistaken, and concluded the trial judge was entitled to find Isles’ evidence so unreliable that no properly directed jury could convict. While the appellate court noted there were aspects of the judge’s reasoning that could be criticised, it did not identify any glaring error that would have produced a different outcome.
The dismissal of the appeal leaves the acquittals intact. The judgment underscores the difficulty of overturning acquittals based on no-case submissions and highlights the challenges prosecutors face when key cases rest on the testimony of witnesses granted immunity. It is not yet known whether the DPP will seek further leave to appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.
Primary source: BVI News