Battle to keep trial in South

There is going to be fireworks in the San Fernando First Criminal Court today if Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) Geoffrey Henderson persists with his application to have the murder trial of housewife Seeromani Maraj-Naraynsingh and businessman Elton Ramasir transferred from the San Fernando Assizes to Port-of-Spain. The warning came yesterday from Ramesh Lawrence Maharaj SC, lead defence attorney for Ramasir. Maharaj said the DPP’s application for a transfer of the trial is comical, misconceived and devoid of any legal merit and in the circumstances it intends to undermine and disobey an order of the court  — “it’s an abuse of process.” The last-minute move by Henderson to transfer is also expected to meet with heavy resistance by Karl Hudson-Phillip QC, lead defence attorney for Maraj -Naraynsingh.

Maharaj would want to know why Henderson had a sudden change of heart after consenting at the Cause List hearing on December 6, 2005, to have the matter heard in San Fernando on January 3, 2006, in the First Assizes. Maharaj recalled the judge, Justice Herbert Volney, indicating that if there was an application, attorneys were at liberty to apply to the court, but there was none, so Maharaj sees the subsequent application by the DPP as intended to undermine and disobey the order of the court. Maharaj argued that the DPP being present at the cause list hearing and having consented cannot now raise an objection and purport to use the Criminal Procedure Act Section 5 (3) to shift the trial. Maharaj contended that if the prosecution has an objection to a court presiding over a matter, its duty is to come to the court, make the application, state the grounds, and let the court rule. “Then it can exercise whatever review powers it has, but it certainly cannot consent to an order at a case management hearing for the matter to be heard at a particular court on a particular date and then tries to subvert and undermine that order — it’s a contempt of court.”

He said he will have much to say about the conduct of the prosecution in the context of the history of this case, and explained that prosecutors are ministers of justice who ensure the fair trial of an accused person, and it is not the function of the office of the DPP  to attempt to manipulate or abuse the prosecution process. Maharaj said that over his 40 years at the bar, “ his application is unprecedented and devoid of legal merit.” He noted that applications to transfer a case to another venue usually come from the defence and is to secure a fair trial of the accused. He noted that the situation remained the same as it was then and the DPP made no mention of circumstances that would require the matter to be shifted to Port-of-Spain.

Therefore, he questioned, how could the DPP now say in his letters dated December 29, 2005, to defence counsel that, “having regard to all the circumstances, it was desirable to have the matter transferred in the interest of securing the more expeditious hearing and determination of the captioned trial.” Among some of the circumstances for a transfer are prejudice to the accused, and security reasons. One matter that was transferred from San Fernando to the then Chaguaramas High Court was the murder trial of Dole Chadee and others. Under the Act, the DPP must file the documents for transfer ten days before trial, and the accused must be informed of the change and trial date six days before.

However, other attorneys in the matter believe that given the circumstances in this case — that the DPP has already consented to trial and the matter has already been fixed by the court for hearing — may give the defence some solid grounds to resist the transfer. Hudson-Phillips leads Ravi Rajcoomar and Prakash Ramadhar while  Maharaj leads  Larry Lalla. Prosecuting the matter is attorney Dana Seetahal. Maraj-Naraynsingh and Ramasir are both charged with the 1994 murder of Dr Chandra Naraynsingh. At the time, Dr Chandra Naraynsingh was the estranged wife of surgeon Prof Dr Vijay Naraynsingh. Prof Naraynsingh was also charged with his wife’s murder, but was freed at the preliminary inquiry. The DPP then attempted to have him re-indicted but the court turned down the application. Maraj-Naraynsingh is the current wife of Prof Naraynsingh.