Accused sues DPP for trial date

A 34-YEAR-OLD mechanic has taken the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to court seeking a date so he can face his trial for murder. Gary Lewis contends he has been awaiting trial for three years and eight months — the longest serving prisoner on remand for murder. Last Thursday, Lewis through his attorneys Mark Seepersad and Gerald Ramdeen, filed an application in the San Fernando High Court Registry, seeking leave for judicial review. He wants a declaration that the continued refusal of the DPP to file the indictment or issue a discontinuance, is illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional. No date has been fixed for the hearing.

Lewis, who is detained at Golden Grove State Prison in Arouca, is a father of four children and has a common-law wife. On May 17, 2000, he was charged with David Deane and Jason Amarsingh for the murder of Jaziano Miguel. He was incarcerated for 11 months before the preliminary inquiry started at the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court. At the end of the inquiry, Lewis was committed to stand trial on May 17, 2002. On October 4 that year, the Clerk of the Peace at the San Fernando Magistrates’ Court prepared the notes of evidence with the depositions of the witnesses and certified them. According to Lewis, he has heard nothing about his trial. Through his lawyers, Lewis wrote to the DPP seeking information on his trial.

He also wrote to the Ombudsman and Registrar of the Supreme Court in an attempt to have his case fixed for trial. Lewis said while he is being kept in the Remand Section, the conditions are deplorable. He shares a small cell with as many as seven men without beds or toilet facilities. The cell, he said, is hot and humid at all times and the air is stale with a constant foul smell. Lewis said he is the longest serving prisoner awaiting trial in the Remand Section. He pointed out that he has done nothing to warrant such a lengthy delay. “I am very distressed and concerned about the length of time that has elapsed since I was committed for trial,” Lewis said in his affidavit.

He said many other persons who were incarcerated with him and after him have been indicted by the DPP. Some of these persons, he declared, have been tried and found guilty, while others have been acquitted and released. Among the persons were Travis Ali and Kerne Romain who were charged with murder in 2003 and acquitted in 2005. Peter Cadette who was charged with killing his wife and one-year-old son in 2003, was found guilty in November 2005 and sentenced to death. Krishna Basdeo was charged for the murder of his common-law wife in 2003 and found guilty and sentenced to death in October 2005.

“What further concerns me about the manner in which I have been treated and the length of my detention awaiting trial is that the offence for which I was charged and committed (for trial) occurred long before that for which these persons were charged, committed and tried. I do not understand why I am being treated differently from these persons who were similarly circumstanced as I,” Lewis added. The accused said all he wants is to be released or indicted. “If I am indicted, I will seek to clear my name at the criminal trial itself,” he ended.