Bakr goes on trial January 4

YASIN ABU BAKR, leader of the Jamaat-al-Muslimeen, will go on trial on January 4, 2005 on a charge of conspiracy to murder two expelled members of his organisation. The trial date was fixed yesterday when attorneys representing the State and the Jamaat leader appeared before Justice Mark Mohammed in the Port-of-Spain Fifth Criminal Court. When the matter was first called before the same judge on September 28, members of the media were allowed to sit in during the ‘‘cause list’’ (in camera) hearing. However, a policeman approached members of the media yesterday and said the judge did not want the media at the ‘‘cause list’’ hearing. The hearing was then closed as everyone was put out of court. Only persons directly involved in the case were allowed into the courtroom.

Juries selected for two cases — murder and wounding — were put in separate rooms as the court dealt with the Bakr case. The police complainant, Cpl Jason Forde, was the only person apart from the lawyers allowed into the court. Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson appeared for the State, while Pamela Elder SC and Owen Hinds Jr represented Bakr. However, British Queen’s Counsel Sir Timothy Cassel will lead the prosecution’s team at the trial. Another member of the team will be Deputy DPP Carla Brown-Antoine, who was the lead prosecutor at the preliminary inquiry in the Port-of-Spain Magistrates’ Court. While the trial was fixed for January 4, all the parties will return before the same judge on October 25 to deal with preliminary issues associated with the case.

Bakr was accompanied to court yesterday by members of the Jamaat. Bakr, 63, is charged with conspiring with David ‘‘Buffy’’ Millard and others to murder expelled Jamaat members Salim Rasheed and Zaki Aubaidah on June 4, 2003 at Citrine Drive, Diamond Vale in Diego Martin. Rasheed was shot and injured outside MovieTowne Cineplex on the night of June 4, 2003. In that same incident, casino employee Jilla Bowen was shot dead. One man, Brent ‘‘Big Brent’’ Miller, was charged with her murder, but the charge was dropped and Miller was granted immunity in return for his testimony against Bakr. Bakr was committed by Chief Magistrate Sherman Mc Nicolls on July 14 to stand trial at the Port-of-Spain Assizes.