No more time

Attorneys representing a minor whose murder preliminary inquiry was affected were asked by attorneys representing Earle Caddle to hold their hand on taking legal action until July 31.

In a letter to attorney Anand Ramlogan, SC, who represents the minor, Earle-Caddle’s attorney Vishma Jaisingh, from the firm Fitzwilliam Stone Furness- Smith and Morgan, on Wednesday last asked for the extension of time to July 31 to respond.

Jaisingh noted that the firm had only just been retained and attorneys were in the process of taking instructions from the acting chief magistrate.

However, Ramlogan in his reply to Jaisingh on Thursday last, said that an earlier extension had been granted and the 21 day extension had since elapse with no response to his ‘simple request for information.’ “We have received instructions to proceed with this matter and to not permit any further extensions.

“We have graciously extended this courtesy despite the fact that our client is a minor who has been detained for over three years and remains in a state of uncertainty regarding the proceedings brought against him by the State.

“The interests of justice would not be served by any further delay in this matter and I am therefore constrained to require your response on or before Monday July 24 (today), failing which I am instructed to commence proceedings without further notice,” Ramlogan wrote.

Ramlogan, on June 21, made the request of Earle Caddle seeking information on who gave the instructions to have the matters restarted and what further instructions were she given and by whom.

In his letter to Earle-Caddle, in which he initially gave her five days to respond, Ramlogan said, “This response has created grave doubt and intensified the confusion that surrounds the status and future conduct of my client’s PI. As you would no doubt appreciate, one would assume that the Honourable Chief Justice himself was the source of your instructions, which in turn arose out of a decision taken at the meeting convened at the request of the Honourable Chief Justice on Wednesday 24th May 2017. This was the clear, logical and inescapable inference conveyed by the press release from the Court Protocol and Information Unit on May 25, 2017, which stated the “consensus was reached” and the subject partheard matters will be heard de novo,” Ramlogan wrote.

Ramlogan further noted that the denial by the Chief Justice that the press statement was badly worded ‘had now called into question the veracity and integrity’ of Earle-Caddle’s statement in court that she had received instructions to restart the cases de novo.

“Confusion now reigns supreme, as the Honourable Chief Justice appears to have “back peddled” from the position originally stated in his press release of May 25, 2017.

This flip-flopping has created a ridiculous and unacceptable state of affairs in the administration of criminal justice,” Ramlogan said.

Several of the matters are expected to come up for hearing today at which time the DPP is expected to State his position on the part-heard cases.