Lawyers paid to talk rubbish

Busby submitted video footage recorded by Crime Scene Investigator (CSI) WPC Aleong yesterday as evidence before the court.

However, he was met with fierce opposition from Merritt who argued that under section 14B of the Evidence Act, the reliability of the laptop on which the video footage was viewed was not provided by the prosecution and hence any footage viewed from the DVD should not be admissible as evidence.

“Your Worship, this section is what I am talking about. I am saying that the prosecution must first satisfy the criteria on the reliability of the device on which the recording or the footage is being run. It is only then can you allow the admissibility of the footage as evidence, that is what the section clearly states.” Busby responded by accusing the defence of stalling the progress of yesterday’s proceedings and said that while no certificate on the reliability of the device had been provided, there were no grounds for the dismissal of the footage as evidence.

“He (Merritt) wants to assert that the facts presented are not admissible.

“He wants to say that this (footage) is not admissible because there are reasonable grounds for its dismissal. I have led evidence that there are no reasonable grounds as what the footage depicts is in fact accurate. The bottom line Your Worship is that lawyers are sometimes paid to talk rubbish.” This prompted a brief outburst from both prisoners and occupants from the public gallery as Senior Magistrate Indrani Cedeno was forced to regain control of the courtroom.

“You can see counsels, we are both going around in circles with this exchange so if there is a point to be made it should be made now.” Footage of the video recorded was subsequently shown and a thorough cross-examination performed on WPC Aleong on records made during her investigation.

Earlier in yesterday’s inquiry, defence attorney Criston J Williams urged the court to act efficiently in the processing of evidence and witness statements.

He emphasised this point by telling the court that it’s duty was to ensure that time and resources were managed efficiently to avoid dragging the matter on any longer than necessary.

The matter has been adjourned to August 25.

Former Lifesport coordinator Rajaee Ali and brothers, Ishmael and Hamid Ali, Devaughn Cummings, Ricardo Stewart, Earl Richards, Stephan Cummings, Kevin Parkinson, Leston Gonzales, Roger Boucher and Gareth Wiseman were implicated in the murder of Seetahal that took place while she was driving home from a casino on May 4, 2014.