Derek Achong

Star Sabga will have to spend another weekend in prison before a judge determines whether she should be granted interim release.

While Homeland Security Minister Roger Alexander lifted the preventive detention orders (PDOs) against Dominic and Genevieve Hadeed yesterday, the one against the 70-year-old Sabga remains in place.

When Sabga’s application for interim release came up for hearing before Justice Vigel Paul a short while ago, attorney Gerald Ramdeen, representing Alexander, the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) and the Office of the Attorney General, requested time to respond to the lengthy affidavit filed in support of the application.

Repeatedly stating that he was not seeking to prolong Sabga’s detention, Ramdeen questioned why her legal challenge was not pursued with the same haste as the Hadeeds’.

“Nobody came to this court worrying about Star Sabga when the Hadeeds were locked up,” Ramdeen said.

“We can’t allow expedition to trump the fundamental rules of fairness,” he added.

Sabga’s attorney, Rishi Dass, SC, challenged the position.

“This is a fundamental rights case which the Court of Appeal has suggested should be dealt with extreme urgency,” Dass said.

“We consider that there has been significant and egregious Executive overreach in this case,” he added.

Justice Paul eventually agreed to give the State the weekend to respond to the affidavits. He will then hear submissions on the issue at 2 pm on Monday.

Through the application, Sabga’s attorneys are asking Justice Paul to grant her house arrest under the same conditions ordered by a panel of the Court of Appeal for the Hadeeds last week.