Prosecution fails to submit statements
Stabroek News
March 1, 2003
The prosecution in the case against the three men allegedly caught with a cache of arms at Good Hope in December, failed again to submit statements yesterday, forcing an adjournment in the trial.
The matter is now fixed for Monday at the Sparendaam Magistrate’s Court. The three men stand jointly indicted on two separate charges of unlawful possession of firearms and unlawful possession of ammunition. Their trial should have begun last week but the failure of Magistrate Jerrick Stephney to show up resulted in it being postponed.
Additionally, one of the men, Shaheed Khan was absent yesterday and his attorney offered an apology to the magistrate for his absence. The other two men are policeman Sean Belfield and Haroon Gahya.
Yesterday the magistrate and the attorneys for the men were in court, but the prosecution asked the court for more time to prepare the statements. It was stated in open court that power outages on Wednesday and Thursday also contributed towards the statements not being ready. Attorney-at-law Vic Puran, for the accused told the court that he was not pleased with the unnecessary delay in the commencement of the trial. Puran urged the court to work speedily to have the matter dealt with, adding that the men were eager to prove their innocence and must not be kept too long. The magistrate, in his submission warned the prosecution that if they did not submit the statements he would dismiss the charges.
Meanwhile, Puran also observed that there were a lot of courts outside of court, referring to many talk show hosts who were discussing the matter in public. He said if anyone was interested in the case they should not debate it on the road and other places, but attend the next court session to hear the charges and arguments in the matter.
The police were also to submit a list of the items found in the vehicle. It was not clear whether this was done.
Apart from the many high-powered weapons and ammunition seized, the army had also found in the men’s blue Ford pick-up a police identification card, a laptop computer capable of intercepting cellular calls and a plan of the city.
