Attorney knocks disparity in sentencing

This view, however, was not shared or endorsed by San Fernando Magistrate Natalie Diop who chided attorney Ainsley Lucky saying such an observation was irrelevant to the case before her (Diop). Lucky submitted to the magistrate that the son of a well known Senior Counsel Israel Khan was given a “light sentence”, by a magistrate when he was charged with Driving Under the Influence of alcohol.

The attorney continued that the son of well-known contractor Junior Sammy also got a “slap-on-the-wrist” treatment from a magistrate for a similar offence.

Lucky was asked by the magistrate to desist, but he continued by telling Magistrate Diop that the son of a Deputy Commissioner of Police, also charged with driving under the influence, was also the beneficiary of “justice with a smile.” Lucky sought to highlight the alleged disparity in how justice is meted out, when he failed in a bid to secure the reinstatement of the driver’s licence of Standley Andrews, 53, of Embacadere, San Fernando.

Andrews’ permit was suspended in June for a year on a charge of dangerous driving.

Lucky argued an application yesterday before Diop to have the permit reinstated on the ground that Andrews’ occupation is that of a driver at Paramount Transport.

Since the suspension, he has been relegated to sweeping the yard and doing odd jobs.

Moreso, Lucky told the magistrate, he needs to drive his daughter to school.

In in his submission, Lucky made a comparison of how other accused persons have been treated by the courts. James Khan, 34, the son of the Senior Counsel Israel Khan, was reprimanded and discharged on January 2014, on a charge of driving under the influence. Deputy Commissioner of Police Deodath Dulalchan’s son Dale, 32, appeared in the Chaguanas Magistrates’ court last month for driving under the influence.

Magistrate Diop stopped Lucky from continuing on the ground of relevance and then ruled. She said that even in Andrews’ application for reinstatement, he denied he was driving dangerously although he was convicted by the court. Andrews has another charge pending before Diop in which he failed to gave a sample of his breath to Police Constable Sujeet Ramcharan, who has stopped him on suspicion that he was driving under the influence of alcohol. The matter is continuing today.