Rickfield acquitted after five year ordeal
(CNS): Tichina Rickfield, the acting Work Permit Board secretary, was acquitted of all the remaining charges against her Tuesday when a jury took less than two hours to find her not guilty on all seven counts of making a document without authorization and one count of misconduct in public office.
Rickfield remained calm as her five year ordeal came to an end with the verdict, following a trial which raised a catalogue of questions over how the 23-year veteran of the immigration department had ended up in the dock.
Clearly relieved once the acquittal was recorded and she was released by the judge, Rickfield wept as she was greeted by friends and family.
Rickfield was placed on required leave in 2009 and has waited for five years for the trial. Originally facing 16 counts, the judge threw out five of the charges for lack of any evidence and the crown conceded a further three at the half-way mark. However, from the beginning of the trial and from the mouths of crown witnesses it became hard to see what criminal conduct Rickfield had committed.
From the beginning of the trial the crown offered no motive or logical reasons why Rickfield would deliberately alter seven random and unrelated board permit decisions out of many thousands of bits of data she inputted into the immigration system over a twelve-month period. Nevertheless, the crown pressed ahead with the case that appeared to be nothing more than a minuscule error rate of a very over-worked but exceptionally honest and conscientious employee, who, it emerged, was the brunt of workplace bullying and victimization.
In her closing speech to the jury the prosecutor said that the crown did not have to provide a motive and that the implied witch-hunt against Rickfield was irrelevant as the case was based on the alterations made to the immigration system that did not match the minutes and agendas, and it was those documents only that supported the crown’s case.
However, throughout the trial even the crown’s own witnesses admitted that the computer systems as well as the protocols surrounding the documentation, workplace rules over passcodes and related documentation for Work Permit Board meetings often broke down due to the sheer volume of the workload, and the burden of that work fell on Rickfield and the clerical staff.
During the trial the court heard that Rickfield was very well liked by the majority of staff and senior immigration management. She was described by many witness, both for the crown and the defence, as a hard working honest employee with considerable integrity. But she became the victim of the board director, Sherryl Miller, and a small group of other workers, who were described by Sharon Roulstone, one of the board chairs who had worked with Rickfield, as a “cartel”.
In a “toxic environment” of back-stabbing and workplace animosity, Rickfield appears to have become the victim of excessive bullying, based on the evidence given by Roulstone as well as the current deputy governor, Franz Manderson, who was chief immigration officer at the time. He spoke very highly of Rickfield and revealed how she had told him, as he was leaving immigration because of his promotion, that Miller and her supporters would have her out of the department within six months.
Almost to the day, Rickfield was placed on required leave following an internal review conducted by Miller and the new Work Permit Board chair, Lemuel Hurlston, who turned up a small number of errors. The board chair was not happy about the explanations from Rickfield and a larger audit was ordered. A few more irregularities by Rickfield and other staff were then discovered among the 15,000 permit decisions and corresponding data that had been inputted but it was just Rickfield who was placed on leave.
Rickfield has not been dismissed by the immigration department and is still on paid required leave but it remains to be seen whether she will return to her post.
Check back to CNS for more on this story next week.
Who will be held responsible for this screw up?
The DPP has the responsibility of pursuing cases that merit pursuit. They ought to be bright enough to understand which cases are strongly supported by evidence and those that have little to no chance of succeeding. Unfortunately for the Cayman Islands and its people, the DPP lack the intelligence, the will and the ability to distinguish between those cases that are legit and those that are not, and continue to make complete fools of themselves, over and over again. It is no wonder that the average citizen has little to no faith in the justice system.
The Crown Prosecutor claims that she does not have to provide motive – I wonder how she can sleep at night? If she’s going to put this poor woman away for a few years, for matters that seem quite innocent, I would suggest that she better provide some sort of motive. The hubris is astounding…and not quite unexpected! But what else can one expect from one of the most dysfunctional and inept governmental departments? Unfortunately, as the saying goes, never try to teach a pig to sing; it wastes your time and it annoys the pig.
Good luck Ms. Rickfield. I hope that you’re able to get your life in order after this nonsensical and unnecessary episode. If you have cause to sue, I would suggest that you sue and sue big.
And so it goes. Another day in Paradise, a place where you never know when it’s your time to face the executioner, depending on which way the wind so happens to blow that day.
Sue them till there is no tomorrow sunshine!!
I lost my job in government after been a victim of bullying by the CEO, who was appointed by the previous political party, as a “personal favor ”
This man has mental issues, been hospitalized for it but , he still obviously damaged goods. Government needs to stop all these nonsense, XXXXX
A lot of government departments are been scrutinized by the auditors, because of the lack of procedures and this should had been investigated at department level and avoid smearing Ms. Rickett’s name all over.
Don’t you worry, what comes around, goes around!
The fact is 5:24pm yes we can blame the DPP until kingdom come. When it is those who take up and further such complaints that are responsible and are clearly to blame. We have all witnessed very serious matters including murder investigations been halted for the lack of evidence on this little island. Some here seem very eager and go to extraordinary lengths to pursue and give credibility to certain officials and staunch supporters and certain citizens accusations when biases and prejudices are clearly present in the matters. This case is a prime example of this.Had the outcome been different an a conviction been recorded against Ms Rickfield the accolades would have flown like the Caribbean Sea that surrounds us. We have all seen and wondered why certain complaints are summarily dismissed and others simply have no end and are a never ending vendetta by those who are incharge of this place.
Can she sue for damage to reputation? I have to wonder how this case ever made it to court. The persons that complained against her in the witch hunt should now be investigated for making false reports since it has come out in evidence that they were part of a cartel of persons. Since Franz left the immigration department has gone downhill. A clear indication of issues with the leadership. Let’s hope she is NOT returned as her evidence was obviously not reliable in this case either.
Well Sunshine you’re getting the BEST blessing ever dahling………a CLEAN Police Record. That’s like a million bucks honey; cause we done know that the way they kill us Caymanians is by (1) making one of our own feel like they better than their own and making our lives a living hell li; being supended and almost losing our homes; (2) by taking us to Court and PRAYING that their made-up stories is believed by a judge or jury and we get their ultimate gift:- convicted so we have a negative Police Record!!! And that’s how they kill us………..and we keep on keeping on doing evil to our own and expecting greatness and blessings for our offspring? We have enough H.R. Mgrs that the number of unemployed Caymanians could be drastically reduced. But that’s if they do what the expat do:- PROMOTE their own; Make W/P holders have apprentices as the work permit says; keep a list of Caymanians who could fill positions for their establishment; push Caymanians to do exams for depts within their organisation; encourage Caymanians to aim for top jobs But NO they fall fast and hurry to pull down instead of pulling UP a Caymanian! Well dahling, you take it fr one who has been used, God WILL pray them back and nothing any of their friends or family can do will stop it!!! I prayed for you. I never believed that was the kind of person you were. Am really happy you can sleep FREELY now……May you continue to be the woman of integrity and virtue that you were raised to be!! May you continue to give God thanks for His blessings and may you have a wonderful life enjoying the $$$$$$$$$ they gonna have to pay you. Pay off your mortgage, buy a small apt or two for rent to give you lil more income; May you offer your time and talents to help some other Caymanian girl with literarcy and numeracy and also importantly to always hold their head up and to be honest because after all “HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY”. After all, no matter how they try dahling NO ONE can bend or twist the TRUTH!! May God’s richest blessings be yours always!!
Shame on both the DPP and Ms. Miller for destroying this poor woman`s life. It`s incredible how certain cases are brought forth despite such flimsy evidence, yet others, where the evidence is sky-high and self-evident, never see a courtroom. Unfortunately, Ms. Rickfield will most likely be unable to sue.
This cannot be labeled as being UK born. The fact of the matter is, there are too many infighting within the work places in Cayman. Public and private. This lady was caught up in a crossfire and being the small fish, she had to fall. The good thing for, she has integrity as evidenced by the witnesses.
Would love an FOI request to find the total cost of this latest blunder… the amount of savings that could be had if a little common sense was applied to the way CIG opperates is mind-boggling.
“A few more irregularities by Rickfield and other staff were then discovered among the 15,000 permit decisions and corresponding data that had been inputted but it was just Rickfield who was placed on leave.”
Does seem to be a witch-hunt if only Ms. Rickfield was singled out and the only person put on required leave.
I want to believe that Ms. Sherryl Miller is not that evil that she went to such lengths to remove this woman from her job and smear her name. Supported by testimony, the two ladies clearly did not get along for whatever reason and I believe when the errors were pointed out, Ms. Miller wanted desperately to believe that she had something viable to investigate and possibly use to remove Ms. Rickfield but I think she reached a conclusion first and then tried to find the evidence to fit her conclusion rather than following the evidence and coming to a sound conclusion.
But I blame the DPP for once again pursuing a clearly unwinnable case and wasting taxpayers money.
1. The trial was delayed for 5 long years, due to no fault of Ms. Rickfield but she was on paid leave the entire time so the Government got nothing for the salary they paid her during that time, when the woman could have been the hard-working conscientious employee she appears to had been for over 20 years!
2. Where is the evidence of corruption? A few erroneous entries that were apparently not only entered by Ms. Rickfield but others out of 15,000 other entries!
Additionally there was no link found/seen between the erroneous entries and Ms. Rickfield so the DPP want the jury to believe that out of 15,000 entries, the small errors found were deliberately done by Ms. Rickfield for no apparent gain to her personally. They wanted the jury to believe that she just randomly chose these items to modify over a two year period.
Maybe the DPP wants to reassure the public that they are tough on crime by pursuing cases irrespective of how flimsy the evidence is.
3. It was confirmed how weak the evidence was when the closing argument of the DPP is that they don’t have to provide a motive and that despite testimony substantiating the witch hunt claim, they said that was irrelevant, their case was that the minutes and agendas did not match decisions that were actually made but they did not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Ms. Rickfield was the person who actually made the errors and if she did they didn’t prove that she did it deliberately. Case should have never gone to court.
Remind me again, which Government Departments frequently boast of being staffed 100% by Caymanians…ah yes, thanks, Fire, Customs, Postal and….er…Immigration.
As they all should be.
Quite right. 8:00pm, so they can all run as smoothly and efficiently as these ones.
and your point is???
Coming to you soon another case of bullying because those in power are indeed part of the problem.
Congrats to Ms. Rickfield in being exonerated. The Immigration Depatment is not the only public agency with a toxic work environment!
What needs to be explained is why the Department of Public Prosecutons continues to press ahead with weak cases in the first place, which are torn apart in Court. There appears to be a pattern of this type of flimsy prosecution which only results in maligning innocent people and wasting public funds.
An investigation into the DPP is long overdue!!!
Another sad and vindictive set of affairs where untold sums of money, and resources, wasted…because of some bullying others. Which is far too common here in our small Cayman Islands! Will those responsible for the bullying face justice…not likely!
So you are now blaming the UK too for any bullying that goes on in the workplace in the Cayman Islands? That monkey on your back will destroy you!
So wicked
“toxic environment” of back-stabbing and workplace animosity…
How could this occur in a country with a strong “christian” culture?
It seems that some people need to learn how to “live” the Word instead of just “hearing and shouting” the Word.
Maybe a little quiet contemplation of the Word is in order.
The Word has no place in the lives of bullies and bullying in the workplace is all too common in Cayman.
Lets hope this lady can now move forward with her. As for the ‘toxic bullies’ they need to be dealt with. Ms. Miller should not be allowed to operate in the position of Director anywhere in the Cayman Islands.
I hope the dpp goes after those that went after her it is obvious to me that the flip side of this is that those that were out to get her made the stuff up to get her.
When franz steps up and cleans house the whole island will be better off. Otherwise I hope the Gov. steps up and takes care of it.
The government cant step up because bullying in endemic and they are at the heart of the problem. Remember ozzigate and the comment about driftwood featuring the pathetic response of Alden?
The DPP needs to supervise her staff better ss one wonders why charges were laid. The DG and Sharon Roulstone made the prosecution look stupid. Did the office not investigate this matter?
Yet another defeat for these Stooges of the UK who frequently generate these type of clearly biased complaints against their rivals, in which alot of time is spent trying to besmirch and destroy people and their good name so they can justify their presence here because we are all corrupt. Caymanians are clearly awakening to this nasty little UK employment operation and its outrageous hypocrisy where certain loyalist and stooges are not even call into question about their unlawful misconduct whilst other are convicted before they even reach the courts. Even Sunshine get a little payday Cha Chinng$$$$$$ Go Girl. Oh but the little cartel doll house is getting decimated every body tripping over themselves eh. This puppet government and its minions should ashame of themselves for what is happening to our people!!!
Who has this govt oppressed consistently? Ohh that would be it’s own people. The CI Govt. Is the reason the UK has to be here in the first place! Lack of any quality skills. Who can blame the UK for taking up the slack!