Broken down prisoner truck causes delay in court cases
October 31, 2006
Several prisoners were not taken to court yesterday because the only truck assigned to transport prisoners to the courts in the Corporate Area broke down. Some of the prisoners were taken to court an hour late because the police had to use other means of transportation to take them to court.
Proceedings in the Home Circuit Court were severely affected because some of the prisoners were not taken to court. Cases set for trial had to be put off and witnesses bound over to return on other dates. Mr. Justice Lloyd Hibbert apologised to the jurors at 11 a.m. for the late start.
He said he was going to inform the Chief Justice Lensley Wolfe of the situation so he could take up the matter with the relevant authority. The judge was not able then to tell the jurors the reason for the delay.
A police sergeant informed the court at 11.30 a.m. that the prisoner truck had broken down. He explained that there was only one truck transporting prisoners in the Corporate Area and he understood that since last week the truck had been having mechanical problems.
The policeman said the police had to use other police vehicles to take some of the prisoners to court . He said some of the prisoners whose cases were scheduled for yesterday would not be brought because it was unsafe to transport them in the police jeeps.
One of the cases that was put off until today is that of 36-year-old Stephen Grant, businessman of Queen Hill, St. Andrew. Grant is charged with the murder of 19-year-old Dunoon Technical student Kymani Bailey who was shot dead in New Kingston on April 18, 1999.
Author: Barbara Gayle
Source: Jamaica Gleaner
