Sascha Wil­son

Res­i­dents of Es­tate Dri­ve in Phillip­ine yes­ter­day ob­ject­ed to the re­new­al of a liquor li­cence to Dr Stephen Ram­roop for a restau­rant and bar at Doc's Ranch. Six res­i­dents ob­ject­ed when the li­cence re­new­al ap­pli­ca­tion came up be­fore act­ing Deputy Chief Mag­is­trate Ra­jen­dra Ram­bachan in the San Fer­nan­do Mag­is­trates' Court. The busi­ness place is sit­u­at­ed a stone's throw from the pri­vate home of Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar on the SS Erin Road. Res­i­dents ob­ject­ed to the re­new­al be­cause of loud mu­sic from the es­tab­lish­ment. Ob­jec­tions were al­so raised against the re­new­al of a liquor li­cence to More Vi­no Ltd, a restau­rant and bar on Scott Street, San Fer­nan­do. In the case of Doc's Ranch, school teacher Pat­sy Jug­mo­han said neigh­bours had been com­plain­ing about the loud mu­sic for the past three years. She said they first sought help from the En­vi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment Au­thor­i­ty, then com­plained to the po­lice.

Jug­mo­han said the po­lice re­spond­ed by dri­ving past the restau­rant and bar, but the loud mu­sic con­tin­ued once the po­lice left. Jes­si­ca Me­icoo, who held for Ram­roop's at­tor­ney Ron­nie Bisses­sar, said un­der the Liquor Li­cence Act any­one can ob­ject to a li­cence be­ing grant­ed. How­ev­er, she ar­gued, in the case of a liquor li­cence re­new­al, on­ly a cus­toms of­fi­cer or a po­lice of­fi­cer can ob­ject, and the po­lice had no ob­jec­tion. Court pros­e­cu­tor Ram­dath Phillip said when the ap­pli­ca­tion was last heard, it was ad­journed for the po­lice to in­ves­ti­gate. Po­lice of­fi­cers vis­it­ed Doc's Ranch, in­ter­viewed peo­ple and then said they had no ob­jec­tion to the li­cence be­ing re­newed.

Mag­is­trate Ram­bachan stood down the mat­ter to con­sid­er the law. When he re­turned, he said the act had been amend­ed and any­one could ob­ject to the re­new­al of a li­cence. He ad­vised the res­i­dents to file their grounds of ob­jec­tion and re­turn to court on April 12 to give ev­i­dence. The oth­er res­i­dents rais­ing ob­jec­tions in the Doc's Ranch case were Sylvia Cheva­lier, 94, Mar­i­anne Mau­rice, Cathion Archilleous, her hus­band Leon and Pa­tri­cia Hen­ry. In the More Vi­no mat­ter, the po­lice did not sup­port the ob­jec­tions of res­i­dents Ram­dath Balkissoon, Mervyn Mo­hammed and Zain­ool Mo­hammed. Balkissoon said they had sev­er­al is­sues in­clud­ing the noise, breach of a no-en­try sign and the con­ver­sion of a green area in­to a car park. The res­i­dents sub­se­quent­ly gave ev­i­dence. The mat­ter was ad­journed to next Tues­day when the ap­pli­cants will present their case. More Vi­no was rep­re­sent­ed by Ali­cia Nebar.