New judge Archie hears first appeal

Justice Ivor Archie was welcomed to the Court of Appeal yesterday by Justice Lionel Jones who sat as president of the West Court to hear magistral appeals. Special State prosecutor Ronnie Boodoosingh welcomed the judge to his newly elevated position, while attorney Keith Scotland spoke on behalf of the private bar. Among the matters which came up before Justices Jones and Archie was one involving John Baynes for alleged malicious damage to the car of Anthony Dasent, a TSTT engineer, at Arima on April 6, 2000. At the Arima Magistrates’ Court, Baynes was found guilty, fined $4,000 and ordered to pay compensation in the sum of $3,500 by Magistrate Cherril-Ann Blake.

Baynes’ attorney, Keith Scotland, complained to the court that an excessive and material intervention by Blake had prevented Baynes from getting a fair trial. In other words, Scotland accused the magistrate of descending into the arena. Baynes’ attorney at the trial, Alfred Pierre, went on affidavit claiming that the magistrate had descended into the arena on a critical issue of  Dasent’s evidence which dealt with the time Dasent had allegedly seen Baynes damage his car. Baynes is alleged to have thrown a stone which smashed the windscreen of Dasent’s car. The court did not make a finding of fact on the issue but observed that if what was being alleged was true, then it would be unfair and unsafe for the conviction to stand. As a result, the court remitted the matter for a retrial before another magistrate.