Deyalsingh is back

LENNOX DEYALSINGH, the most feared High Court Judge of the 1980s, is back on the Bench. Deyalsingh who retired from the Bench more than ten years ago as the most senior High Court Judge, has accepted a temporary appointment from the Judicial and Legal Service Commission, to serve once again. Another retired judge, Mustapha Ibrahim, is also back on the scene. Ibrahim retired from the Court of Appeal months before his 65th birthday in 2000 and accepted a position in the Court of Appeal in the Bahamas. Both Deyalsingh and Ibrahim will sit in the Criminal Division of the High Court from the second week of January, Chief Justice Sat Sharma announced yesterday. Deyalsingh and Ibrahim will assist in clearing the backlog of old cases in the High Court. When he sat on the Bench, Deyalsingh put fear in the hearts of the criminals before him, by sentencing them to lengthy sentences after they were found guilty.

Lawyers and accused persons tried to avoid appearing before Deyalsingh in the 1980s. Those who failed, felt the full brunt of Deyalsingh’s hand after a jury’s verdict. After he retired in the early 1990s, Deyalsingh accepted a consultancy post with the Ministry of the Attorney General under the then AG Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj. After his stint there, Deyalsingh opened his own consultancy agency at 33 St Vincent Street, Port-of-Spain. Ibrahim also had a distinguished career in the Supreme Court. One of  his biggest judgments in the Court of Appeal was in 1992 when together with Justice James Davis, he ruled in favour of suspended High Court Judge Richard Crane against the then Chief Justice Clinton Bernard. In that matter, the present Chief Justice dissented. Ibrahim is back in Trinidad preparing for his new lease on life in the TT Courts. Both Deyalsingh and Ibrahim will serve for six months, but they can be given an extension by the Judicial and Legal Service Commission if it becomes necessary.

Four other temporary appointments were made to the High Court. Two of them will sit in the Criminal Division and the other two in the Civil area. Larry Lalla and Ian Stuart Brook go to the Criminal Division, while Vashist Kokaram and James Aboud will preside in the Civil Division. Lalla takes up his appointment in February as he is one of the defence attorneys in the trial of housewife Seeromani Maharaj-Naraynsingh and businessman Elton Ramasir for murder which begins before Justice Herbert Volney in the San Fernando High Court on January 3. They are charged with the murder of Dr Chandra Naraynsingh at Palmyra on June 29, 1994. Brook, Kokaram and Aboud come aboard in January on a six-month stint. Brook comes from Trinity Chambers, Kokaram from Martin Daly’s Chambers, and Aboud from Chancery Chambers. As a result of the new temporary appointments, two judges have been shifted. Justice Malcolm Holdip moves from the Criminal Division to the Family Court at NIPDEC House, and Justice Prakash Moosai shifts to the Civil Division from the Criminal area.