Prisoner misses court date

A Senior Counsel has accused the Commissioner of Prisons of being so preoccupied with defending his officers that he is slipping in his responsibility of getting prisoners to court for their matters. Attorney Osborne Charles voiced this view in the Port-of-Spain First Magistrates’ Court yesterday when he appeared for Burt O’Neil, who is charged with kidnapping and armed robbery, but O’Neil was not brought to court from prison causing Charles to say: “I wonder if the appearance of prisoners at court is at the pleasure of the police and the Commissioner of Prisons. The Commissioner is too busy defending prison officers that he is forgetting his responsibility to prisoners. I wonder if anything untoward has happened to him (O’Neil)?”

O’Neil had been a State witness in the witness protection programme and has reportedly been removed from the programme shortly after he was charged jointly with PC Ricky Sammy, the police officer who had been entrusted to protect him. They were each granted bail in $100,000 by Magistrate Marcia  Murray on April 16. O’Neil remains incarcerated at the Golden Grove prison, Arouca. Charles requested that the matter be adjourned to today so that O’Neil can “have his day in court.” This was granted by Magistrate Ejenny Espinet.

O’Neil and Sammy, who is attached to the Crime Suppression Unit, were charged on April 16 with “unlawfully taking away the body of Shindell Lyons” of Waterhole, Cocorite after robbing him at gunpoint. Lyons, 28, was reportedly robbed of two cell phones valued at $3,600, one pack of cigarettes valued at $5 and $727 cash. The offences allegedly occurred on April 14 at Mucurapo Road, St James. The two were charged by Sgt Nandram Moonilal of the St James CID. Sammy is being represented by attorney Om Lalla.