Court Rules Police Actions in Tobago ‘Audiogate’ Case Unlawful, Claimant Says She Is Vindicated
A Tobago official at the centre of legal proceedings stemming from the controversial 2023 “Audiogate” investigation says she has been vindicated after the High Court ruled that several police actions taken during the investigation were unlawful.
In a statement issued following the ruling, the claimant said Justice Kevin Ramcharan found that search warrants executed by the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service at two Tobago properties, as well as a warrant executed at the Division of Education, Research and Technology, were unlawful, arbitrary, unnecessary, disproportionate and invalid in law.
According to the statement, the court also ruled against a disclosure order obtained under the Interception of Communications Act and ordered that items seized by police be returned to the claimant. Costs were also awarded in her favour.
The proceedings arose from the highly publicised “Audiogate” controversy of 2023, which involved recordings that triggered a police investigation and intense political debate in Tobago. Court records from related Audiogate litigation confirm that WPC Weaver-Ali was involved in obtaining a warrant in July 2023 and that allegations surrounding the recordings and police investigation subsequently became the subject of litigation.
In her latest statement, the claimant said Justice Ramcharan declared that the July 15, 2023 procurement and July 18 execution of search warrants at properties at Wafe Trace Circular, Bagatelle, Scarborough, and Montessori Drive, Glen Road, Scarborough, were invalid.
She said the court found that the warrants contravened provisions of the Indictable Offences (Preliminary Enquiry) Act and/or were disproportionate, based on defective information, or related to an offence that was legally unsustainable or unknown to law.
The statement said a separate search warrant obtained on July 18 and executed the following day at the Division of Education, Research and Technology was similarly declared unlawful and invalid.
Justice Ramcharan was also said to have ruled on a disclosure order obtained by police on July 31, 2023 and executed on August 9 under Section 15 of the Interception of Communications Act.
According to the claimant, the court determined that obtaining and executing that order was unlawful, arbitrary, unnecessary and disproportionate when weighed against the alleged offence and the resulting intrusion into her private life.
The court further reportedly found that a decision to refuse disclosure of the oath sworn by WPC Weaver-Ali was unlawful and contravened constitutional protections afforded to the claimant.
The judge consequently ordered the return of items seized from her by police and awarded her legal costs, according to the statement.
The ruling marks another significant legal development arising from Audiogate. In separate litigation concerning a warrant connected with the controversy, the High Court previously considered the circumstances surrounding the recordings, the police investigation and WPC Weaver-Ali’s application for a search warrant.
The claimant described the latest decision as bringing relief after almost three years of uncertainty.
She characterised the police action against her as “highhandedness, victimisation and State overreach” undertaken for political purposes. Those claims represent her interpretation of the events and are separate from the specific legal findings attributed to the court.
She said that although the controversy began in 2023, the legal consequences continued long after the initial public attention surrounding Audiogate had subsided.
“Each day I had to contend with the shadow of possible incarceration,” she said.
She also expressed gratitude to her family and supporters and thanked attorneys Christlyn Moore, Joshua Hamlet and Adanna Joseph-Wallace for representing her throughout the proceedings.
Concluding the statement with a religious message, she wrote, “No weapon formed against me shall prosper,” and said she was grateful to God following what she described as a long legal battle.
The Judiciary’s records independently establish earlier Audiogate-related litigation involving the July 2023 warrant process, although the newly announced order in CV 2023-03185 was not surfaced in the Judiciary search results available at the time of this report.
