The Commissioner of Police has argued that an officer fired after he turned off a body camera before he allegedly struck a suspect should not be allowed to return to the service.

A lawyer for Stephen Corbishley said in the Supreme Court that officers found to have suppressed evidence should expect dismissal – and asked a judge to reverse a Public Service Commission decision that Pc Oswin Pereira should be reinstated.

Kevin Taylor, for the Commissioner, said during a judicial review last Friday that the public must be able to have confidence in police officers.

He said in cases of dishonesty – such as the destruction, suppression or fabrication of evidence by an officer – termination or resignation were the almost inevitable outcome.

Mr Taylor said: “That’s what happened in this case – the suppression of evidence.”

Pc Pereira was fired in January 2020 after a review of the reported assault – for which he was acquitted in Magistrates’ Court – found that he had turned off his camera before the incident and was dishonest about it.

Mr Taylor said the PSC had accepted the finding that Pc Pereira’s claim that he had turned off his camera accidentally was “implausible” and that the behaviour amounted to gross misconduct.

But he told the Supreme Court the PSC misdirected itself on the law and came to the wrong conclusion as a result.

Mr Taylor said: “If they got it wrong, the decision needs to be overturned, and we say they clearly got the law wrong.”

He added the PSC was entitled to consider Pc Pereira’s personal circumstances and record, but that they gave them “far too much weight”.

Mr Taylor said there was no official policy to require officers to use their body cameras when the incident happened.

But he added the lack of such a policy was irrelevant in a case where an officer had a camera and deliberately turned it off.

Mr Taylor said: “He had the ability to capture what took place and he made the willing decision not to.”

Mr Taylor said that if Pc Pereira was allowed to return to the service, it could threaten cases that he was involved in.

He added: “It doesn’t take much for a jury to decide that if an officer has wilfully suppressed evidence, he may do so again.

“The public importance in this trumps everything else.”

But Victoria Greening, who appeared for Pc Pereira, said the PSC was the final authority and should not be overruled by the courts unless there were “highly exceptional” circumstances.

She added: “The test is whether or not the decision was perverse and whether or not there was an obvious error in law.

“The PSC has done a good job, and it is not for the court to intervene.”

Ms Greening said legal precedent dictated that operational misconduct did not always lead to dismissal and there were exceptional circumstances in the case – such as the lack of a police camera policy.

She added there was a “small, residual category” where dismissal was not appropriate and the PSC found that Pc Pereira fell into that category.

Ms Greening said that once the PSC found there was no assault, the question arose if they could find he had turned off his camera for the purposes of wrongdoing.

She added there had been several cases where magistrates and judges refused to accept the evidence of a police officer, but they were not dismissed for dishonesty.

Ms Greening said, despite the decision of the PSC last summer, Pc Pereira had yet to be reinstated or get back pay.

Richard Horseman, for the PSC, added the commission was aware that operational misconduct could lead to termination, but there were exceptional circumstances.

He said a lack of a camera policy was “surprising” and had been a major factor in the PSC decision.

Mr Horseman added the fact that Pc Pereira was cleared of the assault charge and had a clean record also played a part.

He said: “In the circumstances where he was found not guilty of the assault and looking at the fact that when evidence was given there was no policy in relation to the use of the cameras, it was felt that some blame could lie elsewhere.”

Mr Horseman highlighted that the decision was not rushed and took days of discussions.

Puisne Judge Shade Subair Williams said she would deliver a written decision later.

Pc Pereira was acquitted in Magistrates’ Court of a charge that he unlawfully wounded motorcyclist Talundae Grant after a high-speed chase in May, 2017.

Mr Grant died after a bike crash in July 2019.

Pc Pereira, despite the court acquittal, lost his job in January 2020 after a Bermuda Police Service disciplinary panel found he had hit the teenager with a baton without reason and turned off his body camera to cover up the assault.

The officer was heard in a recording to tell his colleague “camera’s off”.

Pc Pereira told the disciplinary panel he had instructed his fellow officer to turn his camera on and that he did not deliberately turn his own camera off.

He appealed his dismissal to the PSC, who found in August 2020 there was no evidence to support the finding of assault, but rejected his explanation about turning off the cameras.

The PSC agreed his actions amounted to gross misconduct, but replaced dismissal with a “final written warning”.

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