Lawyers’ boycott stumps Bakr inquiry

THE continuing boycott by State attorneys over their terms of employment put an early end to the conspiracy to murder inquiry against Jamaat Al Muslimeen leader Yasin Abu Bakr yesterday.

When the matter was called before Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court at 9.16 am, the State attorneys were absent. Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Carla Brown-Antoine and State attorney George Busby are the prosecutors. But defence attorneys Pamela Elder SC and Owen Hinds Jr were present. Elder said that in light of what was happening, the absence of the two State attorneys was understandable. “I hope this dispute could be settled early so the wheels of justice could continue to turn. Here we are this morning and we are ready, but the State attorneys are absent,” Elder told the court.

The Chief Magistrate was confident that the dispute affecting State attorneys would be settled and that everything would be back to normal next week. The inquiry was then adjourned to December 10.
State attorneys stayed away from work for three days this week to protest the delay by the State in improving their conditions pending a final determination from the Salaries Review Commission (SRC).  Courts throughout the country were affected as cases in which state attorneys were prosecuting, could not proceed.

Bakr, 62, is charged with conspiring to murder two expelled members of the Jamaat Al Muslimeen — Salim Rasheed and Zaki Aubidah — at Citrine Drive, Diamond Vale, Diego Martin, on July 4 this year. Meanwhile, McNicolls also extended congratulations to Elder on her appointment to Senior Counsel last week. Police prosecutor Sgt Kenneth Cordner also extended congratulations, saying the appointment was well-deserved. He hoped that Elder’s elevation would be and example to young attorneys in practice.