At last! State attorney finally assigned

A STATE attorney has finally been as-signed to the conspiracy case involving diplomatic representative Bissoon Boodhai. Yesterday, State attorney Maurissa Gomez informed the court that the file was passed to her just hours before, to lead the prosecution’s case against Boodhai. She had previously been assigned to prosecute against the two co-defendants Micah Smith and Kurt Alexis. Boodhai, Smith, and Alexis, appeared before Magistrate Lianne Lee Kim in the Port-of-Spain Fourth Magistrates’ Court yesterday charged with conspiracy to traffic cocaine in a pouch belonging to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is alleged that during the period November 30 2003, and May 8 2004, in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and elsewhere, the three accused conspired together to traffic cocaine. Smith and Alexis are also charged with trafficking cocaine.

When the matter was called yesterday, Dolsingh appeared for Boodhai, Nathaniel King for Smith, and Maillard Howell for Alexis, but there was no State attorney. In the absence of the State attorney, Dolsingh asked the magistrate to throw out the case against Boodhai. “There is no one on record here, there is no evidence, I want you to dismiss this case for want of prosecution. Enough is enough.” Dolsingh pointed out that the magistrate adjourned the case to yesterday for the prosecution to respond to submissions he made on previous occasions. After he had completed his submissions yesterday, Gomez walked in and apologised for being late.

She said the file on Boodhai’s case reached the DPP’s office on Tuesday and was handed to her before coming to court. She asked for time to be able to respond to the submissions of senior counsel. Dolsingh said this was unsatisfactory, saying he had asked for particulars a long time ago. “I am making my application one more time,” he told the court. He asked that the charge be dismissed for want of prosecution. Lee Kim agreed to give the prosecution an opportunity to respond to the submission and adjourned the case to November 17. Dolsingh challenged the jurisdiction where the offence was alleged to have occurred.

“What is the meaning of elsewhere, can anyone tell me what is that?” he asked. Dolsingh continued, “My client was charged with conspiracy. He was never here in Trinidad at the time of any offence. The case against the other two accused are for trafficking. His diplomatic immunity was not lifted. The British government never requested from the Trinidad and Tobago High Commission in London to lift the immunity from my client. “If the offence was committed in England his immunity could have been waived by our High Commission. But this was not done. He was never in Trinidad. What is the meaning of elsewhere?” he asked.