Former Head Boy Wins Unlawful Arrest Case Against Police

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The former head boy at Westminister College has been awarded $50,000 in damages by a Supreme Court judge after succeeding in an unlawful arrest claim.

Demiko Rolle Jr, then 17,  was arrested at his home in Adelaide Village around 9pm on September 16, 2020 after a SWAT team raided his home in search of drugs and guns.

During the search, the officers found a shotgun owned by his father, Demiko Rolle Sr, for which the license had not been renewed.

The father was not arrested. However, police officers arrested the teen on suspicion of organized crime and threw him in the trunk of the SWAT SUV before taking him to the Airport Police Station.

He was later taken to the Central Detective Unit.

Police released Rolle around 2:15pm on September 17 without questioning him about any crime.

Rolle was unable to sit his BGCSE History exam on September 17 because he was in custody.

He was too mentally distressed and shaken to sit his BGCSE exams for Math and English on September 18.

According to Rolle, two days before his arrest he was hanging out with his friends when he gentleman he knows as Carroll started an argument.

He claimed that Carroll started throwing stones at him and in response he throw a rock.

Rolle said that Carroll’s relatives later approached him and his friends. A police officer whom he believed to be related to Carroll told him that he would be arrested.

In her decision, Justice Camille Darville-Gomez noted that Rolle was not questioned about any crime during the 17 hours that he spent in custody.

She said, “This raised great suspicion as to the true reason for the arrest. Further, this calls into question the grounds upon the search warrant for dangerous drugs, firearms and ammunition was issued by a Justice of the Peace.”

Rolle was represented by Bjorn Ferguson.