Judge urges crown, defence to use latest ‘Clans’ trial delay wisely | Loop Jamaica

Black Immigrant Daily News

The trial of the 28 alleged members of the One Don faction of the Clansman gang has been further delayed for several days as a result of Chief Justice Bryan Sykes’ absence due to COVID-19.

Despite the delay, High Court Judge, Justice Leighton Pusey, who filled in for Sykes on Wednesday, implored the prosecution and the defence to use the unscheduled delay to get their houses in order.

The prosecutors were on Wednesday expected to reveal whether they would agree to admit the records of several log books from both the Horizon Remand Centre and the Spanish Town Police Station into evidence, given the difficulties to locate five police officers who initially made the entries.

Subpoenas have been issued for two of the lawmen who are on suspension, as well as three others whose whereabouts cannot be definitively established.

Defence attorneys are trying to use the relevant records to prove that four of the defendants defendants – Pete Miller, Kalifa Williams, Tareek James and Donovan Richards – were in police custody when the criminal acts that they are accused of committing were carried out.

Sykes stormed out of court on Tuesday after defence attorney Gavin Stewart sought help from a court assistant to show the prosecution a section of a dispatcher’s log book he was using to support his case for his client, Pete Miller.

“This is a grand waste of my time… This passing around and so on is wasting time,” Sykes remarked.

He then asked: “Have all the records been examined, so we don’t waste time in court?”

On Wednesday, Pusey urged the prosecution and the defence to use the extended delay arising from Sykes’s scheduled seven-day absence to their advantage.

“The absence of the chief justice doesn’t mean all the things you need to do stops. It gives you an opportunity to put things in place for it all to move smoothly as possible next week,” Pusey advised.

He subsequently adjourned the case until Tuesday, July 12.

COVID-19 has repeatedly stalled the trial since its commencement in September of last year.

In October, defendants Andre Golding and Owen Ormsby received positive COVID-19 test results, forcing the trial to be adjourned for approximately seven days.

Then in January, the trial was adjourned for two weeks following the confirmation that members of the prosecution team had tested positive for the respiratory illness.

In June, defendant Stephanie ‘Mumma’ Christie tested positive for the virus, which caused a delay for several days.

The 28 accused are being tried under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations Act), 2014, better known as the anti-gang legislation, on an indictment containing several counts.

The offences were allegedly committed between January 1, 2015, and June 30, 2019, mainly in St Catherine, with at least one murder committed in St Andrew.

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