Two men, whose preliminary inquiry had to be restarted due to the controversial judicial appointment of former chief magistrate Marcia Ayers-Caesar, have been committed to stand trial for murder.
Desron Nero and Sayeed Albert were committed by Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle during a hearing of their case in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court yesterday.
The duo’s preliminary inquiry was restarted last year and came to an end as Busby-Earle-Caddle ruled that the State had presented a prima facie case against them.
Nero and Albert are accused of murdering Keyon Alleyne and shooting Frankie Cathrall with intent to murder him. The charges arose out of an incident in east Port-of-Spain on November 29, 2011.
The decision means that of the 53 cases, which were left unfinished by Ayers-Caesar as she took up a judicial post in April 2016, only two are still to be restarted and/or completed.
In those cases, two groups of five and three men opted to put their cases on hold as the State’s interpretation claim, on the procedure to be followed when a magistrate suddenly demits office, was being determined.
On January 4, Justice Carol Gobin ruled that restarting the cases was the only option available in the circumstances.
“This is what the law requires and as the case law establishes it has so far been recognised as an important mechanism to protect the Constitutional rights of an accused person to a fair trial and hearing,” she said.
As a secondary issue in the case, Gobin was asked to consider a judicial review claim by one of the men, whose case was put on hold.
Akilli Charles, who allegedly spent over $150,000 in legal fees during the preliminary inquiry, was claiming that it would be oppressive to him and other accused persons if the cases had to restart.
Having ruled that there is no other option but to restart the case, Gobin rejected Charles’ application.
However, she described what transpired and how it affected Charles and the other accused persons, as a travesty of justice.
“The stain on the administration of justice will remain indelible long after the cries and protests of justifiably angry suffering prisoners have gone quiet and long after the families of victims who, too, have been waiting for justice to be done, resign themselves to further delay,” Gobin said.
The two remaining cases before Busby-Earle-Caddle are expected to commence next week.
In an interview on CNC3’s Morning Brew programme earlier this week, some of the men’s family complained over the fact that their relatives had each spent over a decade on remand while waiting for their trials.
