COPS SEARCH ZEN
Hunt on for Akon sex tape
Kristy Ramnarine
Thursday, April 26th 2007
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Police conducted a search at the Zen nightclub yesterday, halting business at the venue for just over two hours.
The Express understands that the officers may have been searching for footage of R&B/hip-hop performer Akon allegedly engaging in sex acts at his recent concert at the nightclub.
Keate Street, Port of Spain was thrown into chaos as plain clothes and uniformed police officers surrounded Zen while others searched inside the venue.
Deputy Commissioner of Police, Winston Cooper, confirmed there was a search yesterday.
However, he said it was part of the ongoing investigation into the dirty dancing incident at the nightclub, which featured 15-year-old Danah Alleyne and Akon. Cooper said the police did not find anything yesterday.
According to police sources, a warrant was obtained by the police to search the premises for surveillance video footage of the club from the particular night of Akon's performance.
On Tuesday, Zen management apologised to Alleyne, her family and the public at large "with the hope that with time, the embarrassment and pain caused by the incident will ease, especially for Danah".
In a statement, the management of the club, which is owned by Johnny Soong, also said, "We do not shy away from our responsibility in this matter and accept that we made an error in judgment on the night in question."
Meanwhile, attorney Kelvin Ramkissoon has written to Director of Public Prosecutions, Geoffrey Henderson, on behalf of the Alleyne family, asking him to make a public call to those responsible for publications and commentaries on the issue to respect Alleyne's legal status. According to the law, Alleyne is a child.
"In accordance with the foregoing authorities and as litigated in the local case of Boodram v The AG, there accordingly exists a duty upon you, as the public functionary vested with the repository of the plenitude of power under section 90 of the Constitution, to ensure that any potential process instituted is reasonably free from prejudice and must be a sterile and objective process so far as is reasonably practicable.
"I therefore call upon you to use your good office and your usual independent judgment to issue a call upon the media to exercise restraint and reasonable judgment, cognizant of potential issues and outcomes in the further publication and/or commentary over the alleged incident surrounding my client."
Ramkissoon said: "The recent widespread and negative publications surrounding the alleged incident cannot, by any stretch of the imagination, be deemed to be a sterile and objective account of the said incident.
"Above all, Miss Alleyne is a young person within the statutory parameters and is perhaps more than any other party entitled to the fullest protection of the law."
Attempts to reach Henderson and Soong last night were futile.
