By Tad Stoner
tad@caymannetnews.com 

In his first public statement in months, Deputy Police Commissioner Rudolph Dixon emerged from court on Wednesday, 6 August, indicated he confidently anticipated his trial.

“I will have my day in court,” Mr Dixon said as he left a morning hearing before Chief Magistrate Margaret Ramsay-Hale, who set a late-September date for a preliminary inquiry on four charges against the Deputy Police Commissioner.

Mr Dixon’s counsel Michael Alberga declined to comment other than to say that the four charges “have been in the public domain for a long, long time”. He declined to elaborate.

Mr Dixon was formally charged on Monday, 4 August, by the Attorney General with two counts of perverting the course of justice and two further counts of misconduct in public office.

The charges relate to two incidents, one in Cayman Brac on 22 June 2003, and the other at the George Town Police Station on 7 April 2004.

“Rudolph Dixon … did an act which had a tendency to pervert the course of justice in that he…falsely represented to Chief Inspector Reginald Branch of the Cayman Brac Police Station that it was the policy of the police not to prosecute persons for illegal gambling,” said the formal charge.

According to the “Charge by Police Officer” document, the Deputy Commissioner subsequently ordered the release of Eddylee and Kenroy Martin, who had been arrested for gambling, directing Mr Branch to return to them “a quantity of cash and gambling registers which had been seized from them by the police”.

The same incident also drew a charge of misconduct in public office.

Eddylee Martin is the uncle - and his son Kenroy Martin the cousin - of Lyndon Martin, arrested earlier in an investigation by a nine-member team from London’s Metropolitan Police of alleged corruption in the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS)

The 2004 incident resulted in two similar charges against Mr Dixon when he “instructed Inspector Burmon Scott of the George Town Police Station to release Rudolph Evans from lawful custody”, after his arrest “on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol”.

Mr Scott was arrested with Mr Dixon on 15 May for his involvement in the incident, but was exonerated by the Attorney General on Monday, 4 August.

Ms Ramsay-Hale set 2 September for a courtroom “mention” of the matter, and 24 and 25 September for a preliminary inquiry. Whether a “short form” or “long form” inquiry, she said, would be determined later.

Bail conditions, including a $10,000 bond and travel restrictions, were set in spite of Mr Alberga’s objection that Mr Dixon was not a flight risk, but “a reasonable and responsible person”, and was “well-known to the community” in which “he had lived all his life”.

“It is exorbitant he be asked for a bond and not allowed to travel,” Mr Alberga said. Ms Ramsay-Hale pointed out that Mr Dixon was free to travel, but had to notify police of his destination and dates of both departure and return.

After the 30-minute hearing, Senior Investigating Officer Martin Bridger, head of the Metropolitan Police team, dismissed fears that the years-old charges were of only modest consequence.

“The Deputy Police Commissioner has been accused of abusing his position; that is very serious,” Mr Bridger said. “Someone was lawfully arrested and Mr Dixon has been accused of ordering his release, for whatever reasons.

“The Attorney General’s office, after reviewing the papers my office put forward, decided to charge him,” Mr Bridger said, referring to files submitted to the Attorney General on 2 July.

He said Met Police would continue their probe, and asked for the public’s help.

“I encourage anyone who has information on integrity issues within the RCIPS to come forward and report it,” Mr Bridger wrote earlier this week in an official statement. “You can call me personally on 927-2981. As I have said [in the past], all matters will be dealt with in the strictest of confidence.”