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A police officer assigned to an elite unit of the police service has lost his legal bid to overturn a three-year suspension after the High Court ruled the disciplinary measure was lawful and in the public interest.

PC Mickhail Gonzales, a former member of the now-defunct Special Operations Response Team (SORT), was suspended in January 2022 during a probe into the deaths of suspects Andrew Morris and Joel Balcon. Both men were detained in connection with the 2021 kidnapping and murder of Andrea Bharatt, whose body was discovered in the Heights of Aripo one week after she vanished in Arima, in January 2021.

On June 12, Justice Frank Seepersad said Gonzales’ suspension, imposed under Regulation 152 of the Police Service Regulations, did not constitute a constitutional penalty as he continues to receive full salary.