-In surveillance footage probe, orders mother’s release
-by Kimberly Giddings
High Court Justice Christel Lambert has upheld the arrest and continued detention of Police Constable Ryan Greene, ruling that the State established sufficient legal justification for holding him amid investigations into the alleged unauthorised disclosure of government surveillance footage.
However, the court ordered the immediate release of his mother, Nikita Greene, after finding that her continued detention had not been lawfully justified.
Justice Lambert ruled that Ryan Greene’s arrest and detention were neither arbitrary nor unlawful, based on evidence presented linking him to suspected criminal conduct.
The ruling followed a habeas corpus application filed by Randy Greene, Ryan’s father and Nikita’s husband, through attorney-at-law Darren Wade.
Attorney General Anil Nandlall defended the police investigation, warning that the alleged unauthorised extraction and sale of government surveillance footage posed serious national security risks.
He also accused Opposition Leader Azruddin Mohamed of compromising the system to obtain footage connected to his personal legal matters.
“What is even more deplorable, is that the leader of the opposition is the one implicated in breaching that system, paying a person to sell him images, unauthorizedly extracted from that system to help him in a personal criminal cause that he has. So the national security of our country is jeopardized by one single man who wants to present some defence for himself in a court,” he said.
Nandlall welcomed the court’s decision, maintaining that the allegations warranted a thorough investigation.
He said investigators had identified another individual allegedly linked to Greene and argued that Mohamed’s public disclosure of the footage helped expose the suspected breach.
“I believe the judge’s ruling was sound. It dismissed the case in relation to Ryan Greene and he believe by now they must have concluded the evidence of the mother because her role was quite limited, all she did was receive the proceeds of crime. That by itself is a crime is a serious offence,” he said.
According to an alleged confession presented during the proceedings, Greene reportedly supplied the footage to Mohamed in exchange for $800,000, paid through an associate.
Greene allegedly admitted giving part of the money to his mother, who subsequently handed over money to investigators.
Nandlall maintained that Article 139 of the Constitution provides legal grounds for detention during criminal investigations, while acknowledging that the court was not determining the truth or admissibility of the alleged confession.
The investigation stems from Mohamed’s public release of surveillance footage relating to an October 12 incident involving Senior Superintendent Prem Narine, head of the Guyana Police Force’s Special Branch.
