Derek Achong
A 74-year-old man of Felicity has threatened to sue to the Judiciary for its over three-week delay in setting a hearing for his domestic violence complaint.
Pooran Sarjoo’s lawyer Richard Jaggasar made the threat in a pre-action protocol letter sent to Supreme Court Registrar Nirala Bansee-Sookhai on Tuesday.
According to his court filings, Sarjoo made the domestic violence complaint against his son Deosaran Ghysiawan after he (Ghysiawan) allegedly threatened his life at least four times between January and earlier this month.
With Jaggasar’s assistance, Sarjoo reportedly completed a “screening form for domestic violence” and submitted it online using the system established by the Judiciary to facilitate such applications while its measures for the COVID-19 pandemic remain operational.
The following day, Sarjoo received a response indicating that his email was received and forwarded to the Magistracy Registrar at the Chaguanas District Criminal and Traffic Court.
Jaggasar claimed that he waited well over a week without a response before he sent a follow-up email to the Judiciary.
“To date, the proposed claimant has not been contacted and the hearing has not commenced. He made all efforts to comply with the new and evolving procedure and protocols and has somehow managed to be ignored by the system,” Jaggasar said, as he noted that such applications are time-sensitive.
While still awaiting a hearing, Sarjoo, who has heart and respiratory issues and is mostly bedridden, was alleged threatened once again, early this month.
“There mere fact that while the Judiciary processes the application he had cause to file another police report shows the fault in the system,” Jaggasar said.
Jaggasar also noted that in a series of practice directions issued in relation to the pandemic, Chief Justice Ivor Archie noted that domestic violence cases do not require special urgency applications as other cases during the pandemic.
Guardian Media understands that the lawsuit is expected to be filed later today or early next week as Jaggasar and Sarjoo had not received a response to the legal letter or on the hearing of his original complaint, up to late yesterday.