Expelled Jamaat witness missing from court

EXPELLED Jamaat Al Muslimeen member Zaki Aubaidah was missing from court yesterday. Zaki, who was due to be cross-examined could not attend court because he was arrested by the police and was assisting investigators with their inquiries. Zaki, who is one of the main witnesses in the conspiracy to murder inquiry against his former leader Yasin Abu Bakr, was held by the police in the Chaguanas area two days ago, and was not released in time for yesterday’s hearing. Zaki gave his evidence-in-chief on December 10 and was expected in court yesterday to be cross-examined. But when the preliminary inquiry resumed before Chief Magistrate Sherman McNicolls in the Port-of-Spain Eighth Magistrates’ Court yesterday, there was no Zaki.

Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Carla Brown-Antoine, who is prosecuting, told the court that there seemed to be some difficulty with the witness. “I was told, I got some information that he may not be able to come to court today,” Brown-Antoine told the court. Defence attorney Pamela Elder SC got up and wondered why the prosecution was so cagey. “All my friend has to say is that the Egyptian scholar (Zaki) has been arrested and charged, and is in police custody.” Mc Nicolls asked, “is this a secret?” Brown-Antoine said if Zaki was charged, he will appear in a court of law, and therefore it will not be a secret. Elder intervened, “I will really like to know where is this witness. I will need to cross-examine him.” The Chief Magistrate allowed Brown-Antoine some time to find out about her witness. She returned 10 minutes later. “I have gotten certain information. He (Zaki) has been held on inquiries and he is unable to attend court this afternoon. He is not attired to present himself in court. His coming to court will interrupt the inquiries,” the prosecutor added. Elder said now that it had been determined that Zaki was in police custody, the next issue was whether he would be charged. He acknowledged the difficulty in getting the witness to court to be cross-examined.

“I understand the difficulty and the embarrassing position which my friend’s witness has placed her. This is not only a prosecution witness, but an Egyptian scholar who found himself in police custody on police inquiries.” Elder hopes that the prosecutor will make full disclosure on Zaki’s arrest when the case resumes on the next occasion. But McNicolls still wondered whether it was possible to get Zaki to court later in the day. Brown-Antoine said Zaki would need to get clothes and furthermore, she would need to get in touch with senior police officers to have Zaki released in time for the court hearing. But she pointed out that this would be a lot difficult.

The prosecutor reminded the court that she was going on vacation from today. Elder intervened and said she hopes that Zaki would not go into hiding on the next occasion. Because of the seriousness of the issue, Mc Nicolls even wondered whether Brown-Antoine was prepared to come to court during her vacation. In the end, the inquiry was adjourned to January 14. Bakr, 62, is charged with conspiring with others to murder Zaki and Salim Raheed at Citrine Drive, Diamond Vale, Diego Martin, on June 4.