PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad – More than two dozen police officers yesterday swarmed Express House in search of a tape of a Crime Watch programme that was broadcast on Caribbean Communications Network (CCN) TV6, on October 31.
Shortly after midday, the officers arrived at the building armed with a warrant to search for the tape.
There was a heavy security presence around the building, with heavily armed Task Force officers placed at both the front and back entrances. Workers wanting to leave the compound were required to be searched by officers. Those wanting to enter were asked to provide their company identification card.
The presence of the officers attracted the attention of members of the public who gathered on the Brian Lara Promenade opposite the building. Reporters from various media houses also gathered outside the building shortly after the officers, led by Assistant Superintendent Ajith Persad and Inspector Harvey Jawahir of the Port-of-Spain Criminal Investigation Department, arrived.
After the officers left the building, chief executive officer of CCN, Shida Bolai, told the Express that she was perplexed by the decision taken by the police and the level of security that was put in place “for a simple video tape”.
She said the company fully cooperated with the officers and handed over the tape upon their request.
One Caribbean Media (OCM) company secretary John Lum Young also issued a Press release to staff confirming the incident.
It said: “Heavily armed members of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service executed a search warrant in respect of documents and materials pertaining to an alleged breach of the Sexual Offences Act. All efforts were made to comply and cooperate with the police officers involved in this exercise. After the warrant was executed, the party of police officers left Express House.” OCM is the holding company of the Express and CCN.
This tape was one that followed the airing of another video on October 25 and 26 showing the rape of a 13-year-old girl on Ian Alleyne’s Crime Watch programme which had drawn criticism from several quarters including the Telecommunications Authority of Trinidad and Tobago (TATT), the Media Association of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT), the Publishers and Broadcasters Association, the Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the Rape Crisis Society.
Alleyne, in response to the public outcry, had admitted on his programme that the face of the rape victim was shown. He apologized but defended his decision to air the clip.
Days after the video was aired, TATT issued a legal letter to TV6 stating that the airing of the video may have constituted a breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the Sexual Offences Act and the station’s own ethical guidelines.
According to a release which was later issued by TATT, the letter “cited Section 32 of the Sexual Offences Act” which states: “A person who publishes or broadcasts any matter contrary to subsection 1 is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to a fine of twenty-five thousand dollars and to imprisonment for five years.”
A copy of the letter was also forwarded to director of public prosecutions Roger Gaspard.
On November 4, Gaspard instructed that the police conduct a full investigation into the airing of the clip.
Two days later, the programme was suspended after Bolai announced that an investigation into the broadcast of the video was being conducted by the company. One week later the programme was back on the air. (Trinidad Express)
