Volney: ‘Pray for us’

“We’re in need of your prayers,” Justice Herbert Volney told 12 members of a jury panel in the San Fernando First Criminal Assize Court. The judge is currently hearing legal arguments in a trial in which a wife, and two men are charged with the murder of the woman’s husband.

Yesterday was the fourth day of legal submissions by attorneys for the State and defence in the trial in which Irene Ragbir, 48, and Ancil Edmund, 32, and Bruce Henry, 28, are facing Justice Volney for the murder of Kelvin Ragbir, 45, of Antoine Extention Road, Quarry Village, Siparia.

Yesterday, in dismissing the 12-member jury of nine men and three women and intructing them to return on Friday, Justice Volney commented that what is happening in the judiciary is quite frigtening. Steering clear of naming what the issue was, Justice Volney told the jury members: “When you go home those of you who are praying souls....pray for our country.”

The judge added: “What is happening is quite frightening, especially to us who hold public office. Pray in particular for the judiciary because we are in need of your prayers.”

The jury members smiled. Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions Joan Honore-Paul and attorneys defending the trio — Chateram Sinanan, Anuusha Panday, Rupert Frank and Mewahlal Chatoor — sat quietly at the bar table.