Court will be open Monday, says McNicolls

CHIEF MAGISTRATE Sherman McNicolls is confident that the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court will be up and running by Monday although the source of the plumbing problem had, up until yesterday, not yet been identified. Chief Justice Sat Sharma had on Tuesday ordered that the St Vincent Street courthouse be shut down until Monday as a result of plumbing problems that had flooded out the basement of the new wing of the building. Additionally, the building had been without a supply of water since Friday. McNicolls showed up at the old wing of the building shortly after 9 am yesterday where over 100 people, comprising litigants out on bail and the relatives and friends of those imprisoned, assembled outside the gates of the courthouse. McNicolls said he wanted to ensure that everything was running smoothly as he surveyed the sombre faces of the waiting crowd.

Some of them were aware of the situation and others did not have a clue about what was going on as they received instructions on what they were supposed to do from the MTS security officers on duty. They were allowed into the lobby area in small groups based on the court number in which their matters were supposed to be heard, where they were briefed by Clerk of the Peace, Eugene Prince, on the new dates on which they were expected to re-appear in court. Despite a few complaints about the “waste of taxpayers money” and the “heat,” the chaotic situation that had been predicted never materialised, as the majority of them waited in an orderly manner. All charge cases were transferred to the Chaguaramas Magistrates’ Court.