Cayman magistrate acquits Bermuda magistrate in traffic case
Magistrate Valdis Foldats, who normally sits in the Cayman Islands summary criminal courts, cleared a magistrate in Bermuda yesterday after he had been drafted to the fellow British territory to hear a traffic case against Khamisi Tokunbo, who was charged with refusing a breath test after a crash.
Foldats found that the police officer who arrived at the scene was biased against the Bermuda magistrate and made it clear to witnesses that he was going after the court official.
After hearing the case last week, Foldats said in his verdict that during the trial PC Colin Mill was “unresponsive, evasive, self-contradictory and disingenuous”, according to reports from the Bermuda press.
From the get-go Tokunbo had said he was not driving the car when it crashed. His friend Allen Robinson was said to be driving but both men had refused to give a breath test and were charged. Robinson had pleaded guilty while Magistrate Tokunbo defended the charge.
The officer at the scene was said to have told witnesses that he did not want to let “someone like this get away with this s**t”, which showed a clear bias against the defendant, Voldats said. “PC Mill’s interaction with the main witness at the scene …was unprofessional and disclosed the bias against the defendant.”
Voldats said he did not believe PC Mill when he was on the stand. “His bias against the defendant tainted his actions at the scene and his testimony before this court.”
The officer, who was wearing a body-cam, had turned the machine on and off during the arrest, but what footage was available and submitted in evidence undermined his account, the Cayman magistrate found before he acquitted Tokunbo.
After hearing the case last week, Foldats said in his verdict that during the trial PC Colin Mill was “unresponsive, evasive, self-contradictory and disingenuous”, according to reports from the Bermuda press.
From the get-go Tokunbo had said he was not driving the car when it crashed. His friend Allen Robinson was said to be driving but both men had refused to give a breath test and were charged. Robinson had pleaded guilty while Magistrate Tokunbo defended the charge.
The officer at the scene was said to have told witnesses that he did not want to let “someone like this get away with this s**t”, which showed a clear bias against the defendant, Voldats said. “PC Mill’s interaction with the main witness at the scene …was unprofessional and disclosed the bias against the defendant.”
Voldats said he did not believe PC Mill when he was on the stand. “His bias against the defendant tainted his actions at the scene and his testimony before this court.”
The officer, who was wearing a body-cam, had turned the machine on and off during the arrest, but what footage was available and submitted in evidence undermined his account, the Cayman magistrate found before he acquitted Tokunbo.