A High Court judge has awarded over $3 million in compensation to the family of two Diego Martin siblings, Brian and Sasha Seepersad, whose constitutional rights were violated when they were unlawfully detained in adult prison facilities while still minors.
Justice Margaret Mohammed ordered the state to pay $1.85 million in compensatory and vindicatory damages to Brian Seepersad's estate and $1.23 million to Sasha Seepersad, citing inhumane conditions and institutional negligence during their prolonged detention.
“This court must register its disgust at the defendants’ conduct toward Brian and Sasha,” Justice Mohammed said in a strongly worded ruling on May 2. “The defendant must be punished for such appalling conduct. It is shocking that this appalling conduct was committed by the state which has a legal obligation to protect all minors.”
The judgment followed a 2021 ruling by the Privy Council, which upheld an appeal against the local Court of Appeal’s refusal to grant constitutional relief.
The Privy Council found that the state violated the siblings' right to protection of the law under Section 4(b) of the Constitution when they were remanded to the Youth Training Centre (YTC) and the Arouca Women's Prison, respectively, after being jointly charged with murder alongside two adults in January 2014.
Brian, who was 13 at the time of his arrest, endured 818 days of unlawful detention in conditions the court described as "appalling and oppressive." These included severe overcrowding, exposure to sexual abuse, lack of ventilation, poor sanitation, inadequate nutrition, and deprivation of educational and therapeutic support. He died in March 2020 during a police operation in Morvant after escaping from YTC months earlier.
His mother and legal representative, Karen Mohammed, was awarded $850,000 in compensatory damages and $1 million in vindicatory damages on his behalf.
Sasha, who was 15 when arrested, was held for 730 days in the Women's Prison and later at St Jude’s Home for Girls. She was subjected to routine strip searches, feared sexual abuse, received minimal educational access, and was denied the ability to practice her Muslim faith. Justice Mohammed noted that Sasha “was robbed of her innocence” during her detention and awarded her $730,000 in compensatory damages and $500,000 in vindicatory damages.
The judge ruled the state had an obligation to provide proper facilities for minors presumed innocent until proven guilty, but instead exposed both children to degrading, unsafe, and psychologically damaging environments.
She said Brian endured sexual abuse, constant bullying, and confinement in unsanitary, overcrowded cells, and his innocence was “perverted and the trauma he suffered was immense.”
For Sasha, Justice Mohammed described her treatment as humiliating and dehumanising. She lived in fear of sexual violence, received no proper education, and was denied access to Muslim religious practices.
“Sasha’s innocence was also violated,” Mohammed said, adding that the siblings were not onl
