Sykes leaves courtroom after evidence appeared to be unexamined | Loop Jamaica
Black Immigrant Daily News
Chief Justice Bryan Sykes was on Tuesday seemingly stunned after it appeared that the prosecution and the defence failed to examine records for four of the alleged members of the One Don faction of the Clansman gang ahead of the commencement of the trial.
“This is a grand waste of my time…,” charged Sykes 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 client Pete Miller.
The action resulted in a premature end to the day’s proceedings in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston, as Sykes stormed out of the courtroom shortly after.
Stewart, along with other attorneys, had requested records from the Horizon Adult Remand Centre and the Spanish Town Police Station.
Still defending the allegations levelled against them by the prosecution, along with Miller, are: Kalifa Williams, who is represented by attorney Abina Morris; Tareek James, represented by attorney Esther Reid; and Donovan Richards, who is represented by attorney Denise Hinson.
The attorneys are trying to use the relevant records to prove that all four defendants were in police custody when the criminal acts that they are accused of committing were carried out.
Before the end of Monday’s trial, Sykes had urged the prosecution to examine the records in light of two of the five police officers who made the original entries being on suspension.
In relation to the other three officers, a police inspector had testified that he was uncertain about their whereabouts.
When the trial began on Tuesday, a senior staff officer from one of the correctional facilities took the witness stand to give evidence relative to Miller’s detention.
The witness testified that based on the information that he logged, Miller was transported from the Horizon Remand Centre on March 7, 2017, for the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
It was at this juncture that Miller’s attorney, Gavin Stewart, requested that the prosecution be shown the relevant information in the book.
But, a seemingly bewildered Sykes could not believe what was happening a day after he gave certain instructions to the prosecution.
“This is a grand waste of my time… This passing around and so on is wasting time,” he remarked.
He then asked: “Have all the records been examined, so we don’t waste time in court?”
Before awaiting a response, the judge then quickly adjourned the matter for the relevant documents to be further examined.
The matter is expected to resume on Wednesday morning.
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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