Good Hope arms trial plagued by postponements
Stabroek News
June 7, 2003
In the absence of the presiding Magistrate Jerrick Stephney who is ill, the trial of Shaheed Khan, Haroon Yahya and Sean Belfield was deferred again yesterday.
Khan, Belfield and Yahya were held on December 4 at Good Hope, allegedly in possession of a large arms cache.
The three men stand jointly charged for the unlawful possession of firearms and unlawful possession of ammunition. Belfield is also separately charged with two summary offences, being in unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition.
This is the most recent postponement in the trial, which has been plagued by numerous deferrals since its commencement on February 29.
The most recent was on May 19 when the hearing was postponed by the magistrate due to the absence of a police witness. It was fixed for peremptory continuation on May 30 when the prosecution was to complete its case and the defence to make their submissions in response. However, the hearing never resumed on that date in the absence of Stephney and as a result it was delayed until yesterday.
The trial could not continue yesterday in Stephney’s absence and has now been fixed to continue on July 4.
