Lawyers to flock to High Court today

Up to mid-morning yesterday, however, checks with the Court Office in San Fernando revealed that the case of the State versus Seeromani Maraj-Naraynsingh for murder had not been listed.

However, attorney Prakash Ramadhar yesterday told Newsday that he had been advised to be in court in respect of the case for about 1 pm in the San Fernando First Criminal Assize Court.

High Court officials remained tight-lipped yesterday about whether the case is due to come up for hearing in the Cause List, in which a judge will fix a date for setting the matter for trial.

Maraj-Naraynsingh, committed to stand trial for Naraynsingh’s murder on March 14, filed a judicial review application challenging the DPP’s failure to file the indictment in the High Court. Justice Charmaine Pemberton granted leave last Wednesday, and DPP Geoffrey Henderson filed the indictment the next day.

The next stage is for the case to be listed in the Cause List.

The judges presiding in the San Fernando Criminal Assizes are: Justices Malcolm Holdip, Alice Yorke Soo Hon and Devan Rampersad. Holdip is the judge currently presiding in the First Assize Court dealing with the criminal Cause List.

Yesterday, Maraj-Naraynsingh’s husband, Prof Vijay Naraynsingh, said that a team of attorneys has been assigned to the murder case. One such attorney, he said, is International Criminal Court judge Karl Hudson-Phillips QC. Prof Naraynsingh, who was also charged with Naraynsingh’s murder, was defended by Hudson-Phillips at the preliminary inquiry. The professor was discharged.