An engineer from Maraval has lost a lawsuit over being prosecuted for murdering his wife in 2018.
High Court Judge Christopher Sieuchand on Wednesday dismissed a judicial review lawsuit from 44-year-old Rishi Ramgoolam challenging being committed to stand trial for the crime at the end of a preliminary inquiry.
Justice Sieuchand ruled that former chief magistrate and current High Court Judge Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle could not be faulted for ruling that prosecutors had made out a prima facie case against him.
“The preliminary inquiry was not tainted by any serious error leading to demonstrable injustice against the Claimant which could not be addressed in the criminal proceedings to come, such as to justify this Court’s intervention by way of judicial review,” Justice Sieuchand said.
He ruled that any concerns raised by Ramgoolam over the evidence of pathologist Dr Hughvon Des Vignes, whose post-mortem on his wife’s body led to his eventual arrest, could be adequately dealt with by the judge eventually assigned to preside over his trial.
“These are all procedural safeguards built into criminal proceedings which, in my view, assure fairness of the criminal legal process notwithstanding Dr Des Vignes’ failure to attend the inquiry for the completion of his cross-examination,” Justice Sieuchand said.
Ramgoolam’s wife, Nandita Harbukhan, was found dead at their home at Haleland Park, Maraval, on August 23, 2018.
Although her death was initially suspected to be a result of suicide, Ramgoolam was eventually arrested and charged for her murder by detectives of the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) Cold Case Unit, almost a year later.
In the lawsuit, Ramgoolam’s legal team, led by Senior Counsel Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj, claimed that Busby-Earle-Caddle was wrong to rule that prosecutors had established a prima facie case against their client due to alleged material contradictions in the evidence given by Des Vignes, who ruled that she died as a result of homicidal ligature strangulation.
They claimed that while Dr Des Vignes was being cross-examined before Busby-Earle-Caddle, they pointed out that his claims over the injuries allegedly suffered by Harbukhan were not supported by his notes taken during the autopsy, which were disclosed by prosecutors.
They claimed that Dr Des Vignes did not return to court to complete his cross-examination, as prosecutors claimed that he could not be located.
Prosecutors also successfully objected to the use of the notes and were allowed to close their case against Ramgoolam without Dr Des Vignes completing his cross-examination.
In May 2022, Busby-Earle-Caddle dismissed a no case submission based on the concerns over Dr Des Vignes’ evidence and committed Ramgoolam to stand trial.
Justice Sieuchand noted that civil lawsuits related to pending criminal proceedings, such as Ramgoolam’s, could only be upheld in rare and exceptional cases where there is a substantial error leading to injustice.
He rejected all the issues raised by Ramgoolam’s lawyers over the handling of Des Vignes’ evidence as he noted that they would have the opportunity to cross-examine him again at the trial.
As part of his judgment, Justice Sieuchand refused a stay of the criminal proceedings pending an appeal.
He said that a stay would mean that Ramgoolam would receive the relief he sought despite the rejection of his case.
Ramgoolam was also represented by Jagdeo Singh, Michael Rooplal and Nyala Badal.
Busby-Earle-Caddle was represented by Russell Martineau, SC, Chelvi Ramkissoon, Celine Moosai, Rachel Wright and Chantal Cunningham.
