A POLICEWOMAN who was retired in the public interest for leaving the island without permission and being implicated in drug trafficking, has failed to get the Supreme Court to reinstate her.
Nyoka Segree, 41, an Inspector of Police, was stationed in Clarendon at the time of her forced retirement in August last year. She had joined the Jamaica Constabulary in August 1979.
Insp. Segree received a letter from the Police Services Commission on April 27 last year, setting out the grounds on which her retirement was being recommended.
The grounds outlined that "your departure from the island to the USA without permission with an individual who was subsequently arrested on drug charges and who implicated you in the trafficking of cocaine to the US, coupled with your failure to give the kind of leadership required of an officer of your seniority and experience, your inability to command the confidence and respect of other police officers and the public and the low morale among the police in your division, having regard to all the circumstances, the confidence in your ability to discharge your functions as a police officer has been lost. Your further usefulness to the force has been considerably impaired and you should be retired from the force in the public interest."
After she received the letter, Segree's lawyer, Leslie Harper, wrote to the Police Services Commission on May 2 last year, denying the allegations. Mr. Harper stated in the letter that his client was not aware of any provision in law, or any regulation that a member of the Force who was off duty and intended to travel abroad, had to obtain leave to do so.
He said he was unable to detect any impropriety in the action of his client, unless it was being alleged that she knew that the individual was involved in drugs and there was complicity between them.
Mr. Harper asked for an opportunity to test the credibility of the individual who made the allegation and the person to whom it was made, but his request was denied.
On August 4 last year, the Governor-General wrote to Insp. Segree informing her that her retirement had "arisen out of a report made on your alleged involvement in drug trafficking to the United States of America, and that by your conduct you have created a very ugly image for yourself and the Force."
She appealed to the local Privy Council for a review of the order and was unsuccessful.
After her appeal was turned down by the local Privy Council, Insp. Segree took the matter to the Supreme Court, seeking to set aside the order sending her on forced retirement.
Mr. Harper argued before the Full Court, comprising Mr. Justice Lloyd Ellis, Senior Puisne Judge, Mr. Justice Wesley James and Miss Justice Kay Beckford, that Insp. Segree was not given a hearing. He argued that the rules of natural justice required that a person should not be deprived of his or her job without a hearing.
Attorneys-at-law John Francis and Monique Harrison-Beckford argued that Insp. Segree was given a hearing and therefore the rules of natural justice were not breached.
The court, in dismissing the motion, ruled that when Insp. Segree replied to the grounds in writing, that constituted a hearing.
