In a significant judicial rebuke of military administrative practices, High Court Justice Kevin Ramcharan has delivered a landmark ruling condemning the unlawful treatment of Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard officer Lieutenant (Naval) Chevon Diaz. The January 2nd decision found that flawed performance evaluations and unsubstantiated allegations regarding a missing weapon were improperly utilized to obstruct Diaz’s career advancement.
The court determined that Diaz was wrongfully denied promotion to acting lieutenant commander despite his 18 years of service, with junior officers being elevated ahead of him in violation of established protocols. Justice Ramcharan’s 50-page judgment exposed critical flaws in the state’s evidence, particularly scrutinizing the affidavit testimony of then-Coast Guard commanding officer Captain Don Polo (now Chief of Defence Staff), which the court described as repeatedly claiming ignorance regarding matters directly within his purview.
The ruling centered on a 2018 incident involving a missing firearm, which had been used to justify negative performance assessments. The court established that Diaz held no command responsibility for the vessel when the weapon disappeared and that another crew member was actually responsible. With no formal finding of guilt against Diaz, the judge declared that his seniority could not legally be affected by these allegations.
Justice Ramcharan’s decision mandated that Diaz should have received his promotion to acting lieutenant commander on September 15, 2017—exactly six years after his appointment as lieutenant—with substantive rank advancement following on September 15, 2020. The court additionally ordered reconsideration of Diaz’s eligibility for the Efficiency Medal, requiring assessment based solely on relevant factors rather than the improperly cited weapons incident.
The state was ordered to pay $175,000 in damages—$100,000 as compensatory damages and $75,000 as vindicatory damages—plus 2.5% annual interest from the claim date until judgment. The ruling also included costs and multiple declaratory orders rectifying Diaz’s promotion timeline and service record.