In­dar­jit Seu­raj

In­ter­na­tion­al so­ca artiste Machel Mon­tano will go on the wit­ness stand on Jan­u­ary 28 to give ev­i­dence in his own de­fence to three as­sault charges laid against him fol­low­ing a fra­cas at the Zen night­club, Port-of-Spain, three years ago. Yes­ter­day, mag­is­trate Mau­reen Ba­boolal-Gafoor called on Mon­tano and three oth­er en­ter­tain­ers to an­swer the charges against them af­ter over­rul­ing no-case sub­mis­sions made by the de­fence. "All four de­fen­dants are be­ing called up­on to an­swer the charges," Ba­boolal-Gafoor said in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Court yes­ter­day. Mon­tano, 35, was ac­com­pa­nied by rel­a­tives and friends. The mag­is­trate said af­ter re­view­ing the sub­mis­sions from the de­fence, she found there was enough ev­i­dence for the ac­cused to an­swer the charges. Mon­tano, 35, Joel "Zan" Fezeck, Ker­nel Roberts, 28, 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. A spokesman said when the tri­al was next heard Dana See­ta­hal, SC, at­tor­ney for Mon­tano, would ad­duce ev­i­dence from her client while un­der oath. The so­ca su­per­star will then be cross-ex­am­ined by pros­e­cu­tors. George Bus­by leads the pros­e­cu­tion 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. John Heath and Shali­ni Khan ap­pear for Le Blanc.