Murder accused sympathises with magistrate

Akiel Paris, Renderick Junior Paris and Maseo Murphy appeared before acting Chief Magistrate Maria Busby Earle-Caddle in the Port of Spain Magistrate’s Eighth Court to face charges of murder. Earle-Caddle informed the men that their attorney Melissa Mano, who is currently on maternity leave, was not present at the hearing and she would have to adjourn the matter to October, at this point the accused expressed their discontent with such a late adjournment. However, Earle- Caddle informed the men that the only other available time for the matter to be heard will be in November.

Akiel said he understood Earle- Caddle’s challenges in scheduling a date for the matter and, while he appreciated that the fault was not hers, he and his associates had already spent two years languishing behind bars awaiting a trial date.

“Your worship, I understand that this isn’t your fault, it is you alone here having to deal with all of these cases, and I appreciate you trying to move this along, but we have been in here for the past two years. We’ve been coming here and our lives are just wasting away on the inside.” After deliberation, Earle-Caddle rescheduled the trial to September 4, where cross-examination of witnesses is expected to resume. The matter is one of the fifty-two cases that has been restarted in the wake of Marcia Ayers-Caesar’s ascension as a High Court judge.

The trio are accused of killing Nicholas Joseph aka “BJ” on Carnival Tuesday night in 2015.