For the second time in less than a week, an issue with a juror forced the early adjournment of the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman murder trial.Yesterday's adjournment came shortly after defence attorneys resumed their cross-examination of the State latest witness in the case, senior homicide detective Supt Jayson Forde.Colin Selvon was in an advance stage in questioning Forde about an interview in 2007 in which his client, Earl Trimmingham, allegedly confessed to assisting in disposing of the former Xtra Foods CEO's body, when presiding Judge Malcolm Holdip was informed of the issue.
Holdip then asked the 12-member jury and five alternates to return to their deliberation room to allow the court's marshall to ascertain the details of pressing concern.
When the hearing was reconvened after the break, Holdip told the lawyers, the 12 accused men and members of the public in the Port-of-Spain Second Court the case will have to be adjourned to next Monday.However, Holdip did not reveal the issue affecting the alternate juror.The adjournment due to a juror issue, was the second since the trial resumed after the opening of the 2014/2015 law term, earlier this month.
Last Friday's hearing had to be cancelled after another alternate juror complained of feeling unwell.Forde's testimony centres around two interviews he did with two of the accused men after Naipaul-Coolman was abducted from her Lange Park, Chaguanas, home, on December 19, 2006.In first interview, which took place weeks after the businesswoman was kidnapped, Devon Peters reportedly told Forde he was not involved in the crime.
Five months later, Forde interviewed Trimmingham, who confessed to assisting in digging the hole in a forest area near his home in Upper La Puerta Avenue, Diego Martin, which was used to bury Naipaul-Coolman. Trimmingham also denied participating in Naipaul-Coolman's kidnapping and eventual murder as he allegedly told Forde he was not going to take "'no jail for nobody."Trimmingham's lawyer has challenged the interview, which he said was done in the absence of a justice of the peace and after he (Trimmingham) had been denied his epilepsy medication for over three days.
From the start of the trial in late March, prosecutors have claimed that Naipaul-Coolman was held captive in a house in the hillside community in west Trinidad before she was killed, her body dismembered and buried. Her body has never been found by police.