DIRECTOR of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Roger Gaspard, SC, has officially transferred the trial of six police officers accused of murdering three friends in Moruga in 2011, to Port of Spain.
Attorneys representing the six were officially notified of the DPP’s decision on Friday.
Last Monday, the lead attorney for the six, Israel Khan, SC, officially wrote to the DPP asking for the transfer.
Days earlier, on June 1, Khan complained to the presiding judge, Justice Carla Brown-Antoine about the case being heard at the O’Meara Judicial Centre in Arima, instead of the San Fernando High Court which is undergoing repair work. His complaint was made on what should have been the start of jury selection for the trial.
Khan had threatened to boycott the trial if it was heard in Princes Town or Arima and said he was prepared to face a contempt of court charge for disobeying a court order.
Khan’s contention is that a gazetted notice by the Chief Justice in April 2022 could not circumvent the law on where the trial could be held.
Jury courts at the O’Meara centre were designated as a place for the sitting of the Supreme and Summary courts for criminal cases. Khan maintains this is illegal, as subsidiary legislation cannot trump statute, and that the trial can only be transferred to Port of Spain by either the judge or the DPP. He also said the DPP could not transfer the trial to the new Arima courts as the law did not provide for it or any other similar judicial centre.
He said the law would have to be amended to include the O’Meara courts and other similar judicial centres as had been done decades ago for cases when a court was set up in Chaguaramas.
The Criminal Procedure Act was amended to give the DPP the power to transfer a trial to Chaguaramas for any criminal offence that would, otherwise, be triable in Port of Spain, San Fernando or Tobago.
Khan said this would have to be done for the court in O’Meara.
Brown-Antoine adjourned the matter to June 26, when she is expected to rule on Khan’s submissions. However, she said may not have to if the matter is formally transferred to the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain.
In his letter to Gaspard, Khan said jurors should not be selected from a Port of Spain jury pool but a San Fernando pool since the six officers must be tried by “their peers.”
He said jurors can be selected at any of the judicial centres in south Trinidad but no evidence can be taken from those locations until the law is amended.
A decision on which jury pool will be used is likely to be taken later this month when the matter comes up for hearing.
Meanwhile, the six accused cops will remain on remand until the end of their trial as the Court of Appeal last week also ruled they had no right to appeal a judge’s refusal to grant them bail.
The post DPP transfers 6 cops' murder trial to Port of Spain appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
