A legal confrontation between the Barbados government and Trinidadian entrepreneur Brent Thomas has intensified as both parties exchange accusations regarding delays in resolving a high-stakes lawsuit concerning Thomas’s unlawful detention and extradition in 2022. Government attorneys assert that Thomas and his legal representatives bear responsibility for prolonging the proceedings, while the businessman advocates for an expedited out-of-court settlement.
Senior legal counsel Roger Forde, representing the Barbadian administration, contends that the plaintiff’s legal team has failed to advance the case despite filing initial claims. “They filed a claim and they haven’t followed through on it,” Forde stated exclusively to Barbados TODAY. “The ball is in their court. They have not even submitted a qualified claim.”
Thomas, however, presents a contrasting perspective from his residence in Port of Spain. The licensed firearms dealer maintains that Barbados authorities should pursue settlement negotiations to avoid protracted litigation. “I think that we have to come back to Barbados and be dragged through the courts to waste time for the settlement, rather than just simply have a discussion and come to some sort of settlement,” Thomas expressed during an exclusive telephone interview.
The dispute originates from October 2022, when Barbadian law enforcement officers detained Thomas during his transit through Barbados for medical treatment abroad. The government has subsequently acknowledged that police personnel acted unlawfully in apprehending the businessman and facilitating his return to Trinidad based on arrest warrants that Trinidad and Tobago authorities later dropped entirely.
Thomas has outlined specific information demands from Barbadian officials, including clarification regarding who initiated contact with Barbadian authorities, which officials authorized police intervention and aircraft transportation, and whether state representatives were adequately informed about relevant legal protocols before executing the controversial arrest.
The incident gained regional prominence when Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar characterized the arrest as a kidnapping during a CARICOM Summit address. Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley vehemently rejected this characterization, denouncing it as a “scurrilous lie” and emphasizing that Trinidad police had presented legitimate arrest warrants to their Barbadian counterparts.
This legal standoff continues to unfold as both nations navigate the diplomatic implications of the cross-border law enforcement operation and subsequent judicial proceedings.