Small: I’m ready to go

JAMAAT-al-Muslimeen member Lance Small will be going to Ft Lauderdale, Florida to face gun related charges having lost another battle yesterday to stop his extradition. No sooner had Justice Rajendra Narine rejected his habeas corpus application, Small told his lawyers to “send for the Marshals.” Sitting in the Port-of-Spain Assizes, Narine also ordered the fugitive to pay costs to the respondent. Shortly after Narine’s judgment, defence attorney Pamela Elder SC told the media that her client had instructed her to desist from filing for a stay, or an appeal, because he felt the only way the cloud could be lifted from above his head and that of the Jamaat was for him to go to the US to face the allegations. After listening to almost two weeks of submissions by both Elder and attorney for the Commissioner of Prisons, Douglas Mendes, Narine yesterday outlined the basis of his decision to reject the submissions made on behalf of the fugitive.

According to the judge, it was difficult to see how Small could complain about a breach of his constitutional rights because he had been afforded every opportunity to fully present his case during every stage of the proceedings, with the representation of “learned and eminent counsel.” Small, 69, also known as Olive Enyahooma-El, of Vincent Brown Street, Gonzales Place Gonzales, is wanted in Ft Lauderdale, Florida, to face charges relating to a conspiracy to bring 60 AK-47 rifles into this country and possession of ten MAC-10 weapons and ten silencers. The offences were allegedly committed between April 17, 2000 and May 30, 2001. Small was yesterday escorted out of the courtroom to the shouts of “Alu Akbar” by several of his fellow Muslimeen members. Officials at the AG’s office said that arrangements are being made to have the Marshals return to Trinidad for Small.