Marsdin detained, released;
says, ‘I did nothing wrong’
~ Also accuses Justice system of corruption ~
PHILIPSBURG--Police Chief Inspector Alfred “Churchill,” Marsdin was released from police detention last night after being grilled for about ten hours in connection with allegations that he had been involved in fraud when he served as Chief of Immigration at Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA).
In an interview with The Daily Herald last night shortly after he had been released, the spunky senior police officer was resolute as he asserted his innocence and insisted that he had been the victim of a cruel attempt at character assassination.
Marsdin had been invited to the Prosecutor’s Office around 9:00am Wednesday, but after being questioned for a while was arrested for suspected forgery of immigration documents. He was taken to the Pointe Blanche prison where he was interrogated.
Word of the latest arrest of a senior police officer – the third in less than nine months and the second in just over one month – spread rapidly through the community Wednesday and quickly became the “talk of the town.”
Marsdin’s detention was extended beyond the initial six-hour stipulation and, according to Chief Prosecutor Taco Stein, authorisation was received for his detention to be extended until 3:00pm Friday.
However, the 32-year Police Force veteran was released around 7:00pm Wednesday.
Friends and family awaited Marsdin at his Walter Nisbeth Road home and welcomed him with smiles and hugs as he asserted his unwillingness to yield to what he termed trumped-up charges to keep him quiet. “My mouth big, they know that,” Marsdin said.
During an exclusive interview with this newspaper at his residence last night, Marsdin sat on a couch in his living room, holding a glass of Blue Label whisky in one hand while making a fist with the other.
“I have nothing to hide. I have done nothing wrong,” he insisted, raising his clenched fist in the air. “I know for 100 per cent I have not done anything wrong. I have worked according to procedures.”
During his 10 hours in police detention he was grilled about supposedly questionable decisions made while he was in charge of Immigration at the airport.
Marsdin, who was reassigned to head the Police Force’s General Division late last year, said he had been asked about a years-old incident in which he allegedly had allowed a non-national onto the island with only US $100. He said that while he could not recall any such case, if he had done so he “must have had a good reason.”
He said it was also alleged that he had helped girls for strip club Bada Bing to enter the country in breach of the proper protocol. He flatly denied this. “If I have done anything wrong they should have kept me in jail,” Marsdin said.
Contending that his detention was a “witch hunt,” he said he had been attacked unfairly, and threatened to “bus’ the pot” on the layers of corruption that he said had infiltrated the Justice system over the years.
“The [Prosecutor’s Office] covered up robberies when the Marechaussees were here,” Marsdin said, listing several alleged wrongdoings that reflected his accusations of corruption. “I can prove it,” he said, adding that he had hard evidence to defend his statements.
Windward Islands Police Chief Commissioner Derrick Holiday’s arrest was the most recent before Marsdin’s, and Commissioner Marcel Loor was the first high-profile arrest made.
Marsdin likened his marathon detention session to Holiday being taken into custody little over a month ago, saying this was another attempt at defaming officers on the island.
Holiday who sat with Marsdin and talked for a long time soon after Marsdin’s release last night, was taken into police custody on February 5 and questioned about allegations that he had signed forged documents. He was released three days later following intense interrogation, but still could be called again as a suspect.
Chief of Immigration Commissioner Marcel Loor was arrested June 19 last year for Immigration fraud. He was jailed for four years in November on charges of accepting bribes and misuse of his official position.
