A CHAGUANAS magistrate has dismissed two complaints against a woman from Central Trinidad who was arrested and allegedly manhandled by police after she stopped by a vegetable stall in Freeport to purchase chandon beni in 2021.

Magistrate Dwayne Murray acceded to the request of defence attorneys Kiel Taklalsingh, Renuka Rambhajan and Kavita Moonesar to dismiss the dangerous driving and resisting arrest charges after the police failed to provide bodycam footage of the incident and had no witnesses present on October 6, when the trial was to begin.

Murray had previously adjourned the matter in March to give the police time to provide the bodycam footage of the officers who arrested Fareeda Sookdeo on July 12, 2021. Murray was subsequently told that the police could not locate the footage on its cloud storage. However, Sookdeo’s attorneys were able to provide the court with social media footage of the incident.