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A High Court judge has ruled that the Coast Guard acted unlawfully by failing for more than a year to decide on a senior officer’s complaint about his non-promotion, and has ordered that a decision be made within seven days.

In a judgment delivered on January 28, Justice Margaret Mohammed granted declarations in favour of former Coast Guard member O’Brian Lightbourne, who sought judicial review over the failure to determine his grievance before he left the service.

Lightbourne served in the TTCG from 1996 until January 26, 2024, his compulsory run-out date. At the time of his retirement, he was the most senior officer in the Intelligence Operations Department of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force Intelligence Unit (DFIU).