Attorney fails to appear as witness

Attorney Ravi Rajcoomar was issued fresh summons Friday by presiding coroner in the Galene Bonadie Inquest to appear as a witness after the attorney failed to show up at the resumption of the proceedings. Rajcoomar was summoned by Coroner Sherman Mc Nicolls last week, after applications by attorney Israel Khan SC, attorney representing the four subjects of the inquest, to give evidence in the matter following the discovery of the attorney’s “personal involvement” in the matter.

As the matter got underway Friday, Khan indicated to Mc Nicolls that the summons was not properly served to the attorney as the document was left at Rajcoomar’s office. Issuing the summons was officer attached to the Court and Process Division, CPL Hollis Jacobs, who delivered the summons at the attorney’s office last week. However, attorney Theodore Guerra SC, who is seeking Rajcoomar’s interest, defended his client’s absence saying Rajcoomar did not get the mandatory 48 hours for the summons. Raising strong objection to Guerra’s statements, Khan told the court that Rajcoomar did not need 48 hours, citing legal arguments to support his position. According to Khan, the section that gives you the right to summon a witness does not say anything about 48 hours. 

Attorney Desmond Allum SC, head of the Criminal Bar Association who was also present at the proceedings, told the coroner that Khan was seeking to make a distinction between a witness summons and a defendant summons, but his understanding of the situation is that there is no distinction. By this time, Khan who was in a pensive mood, turned to the coroner, saying he felt attorney Guerra was of no assistance to the court. Khan went further to attack Guerra, saying he failed to tell the court that the warrant was not properly served because, “they stop reading, and their memory fading as they getting old.”

Clearly agitated by Khan’s attacks, Guerra rose and asked that Mc Nicolls deal with Khan’s personal attacks which came his way. “You sit here and allow this man to carry on like this. I remember on the last occasion Mr Khan asked me not to get personal,” Guerra said. After the arguments, Mc Nicolls overruled Guerra’s arguments, and ruled that the service of the warrant was bad. “The issue of 48 hours does not apply. In these circumstances, we have to set fresh summons,” Mc Nicolls ruled. Hearing resumes February 10.