Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

A SENIOR judge has suggested the removal of some cases for which no witnesses are coming forward as a means of easing the huge backlog cluttering the court system for many years. Some of the cases have been on the court list for more than five years.

“We must eliminate some of the cases from the list which have been dragging on for years without witnesses coming forward,” Senior Puisne Judge Gloria Smith said on Friday when she officially opened the Hilary session of the Home Circuit Court, downtown Kingston. She pointed out that keeping those cases on the list only added to the backlog.

There are 452 cases for trial during this term, which ends on April 15. The previous term, which began in September last year and ended in December, had 487 cases listed for trial. A total of 65 cases were disposed of during the term and 422 were traversed to this term. Thirty new cases were added to the traversed list, making a total of 452. There are 296 murder cases and 94 sexual offence cases on the list.

Complexity

Smith pointed to some of the reasons for the state of the court list. “There is an ever-increasing number of cases coming into the system,” she said, adding that one could not just look at the mere number of cases disposed of during a term, but one had to also look at their complexity.

The judge outlined some of the difficulties the courts faced and said they must be tackled immediately. They included the late arrival of prisoners for court, and insufficient jurors. She pointed out that for a murder case involving five accused persons, at least 82 jurors would have to be in attendance before a murder case could proceed with a 12-member jury. She said each accused was entitled to seven challenges, totalling 35, while the prosecution was also entitled to the same 35 challenges.

The Plea and Case Management Hearings celebrated its first anniversary this month, and Justice Smith said it was a tool that could assist the speedy disposal of cases. She said there were teething pains but “it will work and will work if we all cooperate and have the will to see that it succeeds”. The hearings are held to ensure that cases are ready for trial before they are placed on the trial list.

In endorsing the judge’s concerns, Lisa Palmer Hamilton, senior deputy director of public prosecutions, des-cribed the court list as formidable. She called on all stakeholders, including persons who were summoned for jury duty, to play their part in helping to dispose of the cases.

Attorney-at-law Carlton Collman said there was a serious problem with the backlog of cases, but he gave the assurance that members of the private Bar would be doing their best to reduce the backlog.

• IN THE HOME CIRCUIT

1. The case of Police Constable Lascene Edwards, who is charged with the murder of Aldonna Harris, the mother of his child, is set for trial on February 14. Edwards is on bail and his case has been before the Home Circuit Court since 2005. Harris was fatally shot in the head at her home in Pembroke Hall, St Andrew, in 2003. The Crown is alleging that Edwards shot Harris and left a suicide note at the murder scene. The defence is contending that Harris wrote the suicide note and then shot herself.
2. The trial of Christopher Dixon, 33, upholsterer, of Seaview Gardens, Kingston 11, is set for January 17. He is charged with the murder of 29-year-old reputed psychic, Safa Asuntuwa, who was beaten to death between June 24 and 25, 2002. His body was found in a gully off the Cavaliers main road in St Andrew about 10:30 a.m. on June 25, 2002. It is being alleged that Dixon and another man were the last to have seen Asuntuwa alive. Dixon was convicted in  tne 2003 of the murder, but in June 2004, the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial. Dixon is in custody awaiting a new trial. The case had to be put off on several occasions because of absent witnesses.
3. Michael Laoe, 41-year-old battery technician who is charged with the murder of his wife, Charmaine. The trial has been set for March 3. Allegations are that Laoe, of a Kingston 11 address, conspired with another man to throw acid on his wife. It is further alleged that about 8:30 a.m. on June 10, 2005, Laoe’s wife was on her way to work at the Constant Spring tax office in St Andrew. On reaching the gate to her workplace, a man approached her and threw the corrosive substance on her. Onlookers chased the attacker and beat him to death. Laoe is on bail.
4. The trial of 39-year-old labourer Michael McLean, who is charged with the brutal murder in February 2006 of six members of a family in Duhaney Pen, St Thomas, has been set for March 14. McLean has been in custody since he was arrested and charged in 2006 for the murders of four children and two adults.
5. Police Constable Rushon Hamilton, who is accused of murdering a 14-year-old girl whom he allegedly sexually assaulted, is to face trial on March 28. He is also facing charges of carnal abuse and indecent assault. He has been in custody since 2008. Hamilton is charged with the murder of the schoolgirl who went missing a few weeks after she reported that he sexually assaulted her in October 2008.
6. Former church deacon, 50-year-old Donovan Jones, who is charged with trafficking in persons, arising from the alleged sexual molestation of a 14-year-old girl, is to be tried on March 28. He is on bail. The allegations are that in April and May 2006, Jones was driving a motor vehicle in which the schoolgirl and three schoolboys were passengers. The girl was allegedly fondled and the events video-recorded. Jones resigned from his position as a deacon after he was arrested and charged in 2006.
7. Carlos Hill, the former head of the failed investment scheme Cash Plus Ltd, appeared in the Home Circuit Court last year and was offered bail in the sum of $15 million with a surety. He is facing a charge of fraudulently inducing persons to invest in Cash Plus. The case will be tried by a jury, and the maximum sentence for such an offence is seven years’ imprisonment. Hill is on bail, but a date has not yet been set for his trial. He is to return to court tomorrow (January 10) when the case will be mentioned.

barbara.gayle@gleanerjm.com