The trial opened Tuesday of a staff member in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions charged with breach of trust.
Evita Dixon, 38, who had been working with the ODPP for 18 years, 10 of which as a legal executive officer, faces one count of breach of trust for allegedly tampering with her son’s file to prevent him from being charged with drug offences.
The charge alleges that between 17 July and 30 Oct. 2019 Dixon, “being a public officer committed a breach of trust in relation to carrying out her duty”.
In his opening statement, Rory Field, representing the prosecution, told the court, “In her role, she was trusted to handle files in such a manner that the files do not go missing.”
At the time of the offence, Dixon’s daily duties included receiving, logging and distributing the various files received from the police and other agencies.
The jury of five men and two women heard that Dixon’s son and another man had been arrested in May 2019 on suspicion of possession of ganja. The file eventually made its way to the ODPP for a ruling on whether the two of them would be charged.
“She interfered with the process of the file in relation to her son,” said Field. “The defendant hid the paper file, and then approached an attorney to have the file diverted from the courts. When that failed, she then tampered with the computer system to make it difficult to find the file.”
The jury heard that a member of staff who had initially received her son’s file along with others passed them on to Dixon to be logged and transferred to an attorney. Dixon is alleged to have passed on all the files except the one in relation to her son.
When follow-up checks were made on the files, the court heard that nothing could be found for Dixon’s son, but the record in relation to the man jointly charged with him was located. This is said to have sparked suspicion, which led the ODPP to contact the Anti-Corruption Commission, Field said.
“An investigation was launched and two files were sent to the ODPP which were both received by the defendant,” he said. “One file was a genuine file, and the other was a dummy file which named [Dixon’s son].”
He added, “Dixon was later arrested and a search of the ODPP conducted. It was discovered that the genuine file had been properly logged, and the dummy file, which named her son, was found in her personal work area.
“There was no reason for the file to be in her station.”
The jury heard that a search of computer records showed that Dixon’s son’s name had been deleted from the system, and there were also attempts to remove his ID number. At the time these changes were made, he said, Dixon was logged in as the user.
“When interviewed, Dixon told the officers she was being framed by members of staff from the ODPP who did not like her because she was Caymanian,” said Field. “She claimed that other people have access to, and often use, each other’s log-in credentials.”
He told the jury, “We cannot say why she did what she did. But we do suspect it was done to protect her son.”
Dixon denies the allegations, and her trial resumes today.
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