Court Rules Arrest Of Zarah Harper Was Unlawful
The Court has ruled that the arrest of Zarah Harper and the search of her home was “unlawful,” and said she is “at liberty to apply for a further hearing in order to determine whether and if so, the amount the Respondent should pay the Applicant by way of compensation for unlawful arrest, false imprisonment and violation of her privacy.”
Court Ruling
This follows after six police officers attended her home in October 2020 — at 6.45am in the morning while her three small children were at home — in relation to the party at Blu.
The court ruling said, “The Applicant is the owner, manager and a director of Vibe 103 radio station. She is a businesswoman of good character, with no previous convictions and daughter of the well known Member of Parliament, Mr Zane DeSilva.
“On the morning of 12 October 2020, at approximately 06:45, six officers of the BPS attended the Applicant’s home address and arrested her without a warrant, for providing false information to a public officer.
“It is common ground that the Applicant’s three small children and her husband were present when the six police officers entered the Applicant’s home. There is a dispute between the parties as to whether she was arrested and searched in the presence of her children.
“She was ultimately released at 16:57 having been in custody for approximately 9 1/2 hours.”
Her lawyer’s submission stated that “No attempt was made by the BPS to arrange to speak to the Applicant voluntarily, or to invite her attendance at the police station” and “no credible explanation has been given” as to why a “6:45 dawn arrest by six police officers at her home address, where her children and husband resided, was necessary or appropriate.”
In delivering the decision, the ruling said, “Having regard to the above findings of the Court and for the reasons given the Court [i] quashes the decision summarily to arrest the Applicant and declares that her arrest was unlawful; [ii] declares that the subsequent search of the Applicant’s home address was unlawful; [iii] quashes the warrant dated 9 October 2020 search the premises of ‘Vibe’.
“The Applicant is at liberty to apply for a further hearing in order to determine whether and if so, the amount the Respondent should pay the Applicant by way of compensation for unlawful arrest, false imprisonment and violation of her privacy, pursuant to section 67 of the Supreme Court Act 1905.”
MP Zane DeSilva’s Statement
Calling it a “complete vindication of my daughter,” Ms Harper’s father MP and businessman Zane DeSilva said, “Police officers carried out a dawn raid on her home in front of her three young children in order to gain evidence of some alleged wrongdoing related the event at Blu, for which we were acquitted last year without obtaining a warrant. At they same time they executed a warrant for the search of her business premises at Vibe Radio.
“We sought judicial review of the decision to obtain the warrant, arrest her and search her premises. We sought damages for false imprisonment and a violation of her privacy. We won on everything.
“What the case exposes is a serious failure by the BPS to exercise their powers properly. There is no excuse, the law has been settled for some time following the outrage they perpetrated against Dr Reddy in the same way only seven years ago.
“It is only because people like me and Dr Reddy can afford to challenge these excesses that they are exposed. What worries me is that this is far more widespread and is simply being allowed to happen because people can’t afford to make the challenge.
“Police powers are given to them by consent of the people. They have no right to abuse them. The right to your privacy and sanctity of your home is fundamental to a free society and is enshrined in our constitution.
“I call for the Commissioner of Police to conduct a route and branch review of the approach taken by his officers to their powers to arrest, search & seize property, whether by warrant or not. This simply must not happen again.”
The full ruling follows below [PDF here]:
