A SENIOR Magistrate acted unlawfully and without jurisdiction when she ordered a man to be committed to St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital during a civil custody matter, the High Court has ruled.Justice Marcia Ayers-Caesar found that the man’s constitutional rights were breached after he was detained for about 92 hours, strip-searched, taunted by police, held in a faeces-covered cell and transported to the psychiatric hospital in chains.In a 30-page judgment delivered yesterday, the judge ruled that the man’s committal was unlawful, unconstitutional and void from the outset.The judgment arose from a constitutional claim against the Office of the Attorney General over an incident at the Point Fortin Magistrates’ Court on February 17, 2020.The man, who was unrepresented, was attending a civil hearing involving paternity, maintenance and custody of his infant son.A social worker had previously recommended that he voluntarily undergo a psychiatric assessment as part of co-parenting counselling, amid communication difficulties between him and the child’s mother.However, Justice Ayers-Caesar found that Senior Magistrate Alicia Chankar perceived the man as acting “erratic and concerning” during the hearing after observing him fidgeting and pressing his hands to his forehead. The judge noted that two independent psychiatrists later attributed the behaviour to court-related stress.The magistrate then invoked Section 13 of the Mental Health Act and ordered that the man be remanded to St Ann’s for a 14-day psychiatric assessment. Justice Ayers-Caesar found that the magistrate had misapplied the law and had used a document intended for accused persons facing criminal charges.“The Magistrate transformed a mechanism of social assistance into an instrument of State power,” the judge wrote.The man was handcuffed in court and taken to the Point Fortin Police Station, where he was stripped naked in the presence of officers and taunted. He was then placed in a cell with two other prisoners. The judge found that faeces had been smeared on the walls and floor of the cell.After about four hours, he was restrained at his hands, waist and feet and transported to Ward 27, the Forensic Psychiatric Unit at St Ann’s. The court heard he was held there alongside severely disturbed patients in unsanitary conditions, including broken toilets and non-functioning showers.He was released on February 21, 2020, after psychiatrists Dr Dominic O Nwokolo and Dr Keshenee Ramnarine found that he had no mental illness or psychiatric disorder. Justice Ayers-Caesar said the man was denied due process as he was not given notice that committal was being considered and had no opportunity to be heard or obtain legal representation.The judge also found that the treatment he endured was “grossly disproportionate, humiliating, degrading, and cruel”. The man later claimed that the detention damaged his reputation and employment prospects.Justice Ayers-Caesar declared that his detention breached his constitutional right to liberty and due process, while the treatment meted out to him amounted to cruel and unusual treatment.The State was ordered to pay his legal costs. The matter was adjourned to November 10 for a virtual hearing to assess compensatory, aggravated, exemplary and vindicatory damages. He was represented by attorney Ted Roopnarine, while Keisha Prosper and Tenelle Hills appeared for the AG’s Office.