In­dar­jit Seu­raj

In­ter­na­tion­al So­ca Monarch and Road March win­ner Machel Mon­tano is ex­pect­ed to open his de­fence to­day to crim­i­nal charges stem­ming from a fra­cas at Zen night­club al­most four years ago. The in­ter­na­tion­al so­ca su­per­star, who was yes­ter­day an­nounced as the land­slide win­ner of the 2011 Car­ni­val Road March, will re­turn be­fore Mag­is­trate Mau­reen Ba­boolal-Gafoor in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Court, where he is ex­pect­ed to tes­ti­fy un­der oath, about the events which tran­spired on April 26, 2007. Mon­tano and en­ter­tain­ers Joel "Zan" Fezeck, Ker­nel Roberts, song­writer/pro­duc­er and son of the late ca­lyp­son­ian Lord Kitch­en­er and Rod­ney "Ben­jai" Le Blanc, are on tri­al be­fore Ba­boolal-Gafoor on the charge of as­sault­ing Rus­sell Pol­lon­ais.

Mon­tano, Fezeck and Roberts al­so are charged with as­sault­ing Bran­dis Brown. Mon­tano al­so faces fur­ther al­le­ga­tions of as­sault­ing Jenelle Le Chee and Ger­ard Bowrin and us­ing ob­scene lan­guage. The charges stem from a fra­cas out­side the night­club on Keate Street, Port-of-Spain, on April 26, 2007.

Mon­tano, who is be­ing de­fend­ed by at­tor­ney Dana See­ta­hal, SC, was sched­uled to tes­ti­fy in his de­fence on two pre­vi­ous oc­ca­sions, but could not do so be­cause of ex­tra­ne­ous cir­cum­stances which had arisen and forced ad­journ­ments to the tri­al.

Ba­boolal-Gafoor, on De­cem­ber 9, called on Mon­tano and the oth­er de­fen­dants to an­swer the charges.

The mag­is­trate said af­ter re­view­ing the pros­e­cu­tion's case, she found there was enough ev­i­dence for the ac­cused to an­swer the charges. The so­ca su­per­star is ex­pect­ed to be cross-ex­am­ined by pros­e­cu­tor George Bus­by, who ap­pears for the State. Fol­low­ing that, Roberts, Fezeck and Le Blanc will each present their cas­es. Roberts is rep­re­sent­ed by Kei­th Scot­land, while Fezeck is be­ing de­fend­ed by Lar­ry Williams.

Ra­jiv Per­sad, John Heath and Shali­ni Khan ap­pear for Le Blanc.