Lawyers, magistrates and the poor and powerless

Nov 06, 2010 Features / Columnists, Freddie Kissoon

One cannot deny the fact that there is a profusion of lawyers in Guyana. That is a right that should not be tampered with. If a person wants to be an attorney that person should be given that right.
In fact I support the existence of a law college in Guyana, independent of Sir Hugh Wooding Law School in Trinidad through which a Guyanese student must pass if he/she is to practice law in Guyana and the region except the Bahamas which has its own college.
One cannot help but reflect on whether these lawyers can sustain a livelihood in Guyana given our state of poverty and their numbers.
I learnt a lot about some lawyers and some magistrates going to umpteen magistrate courts in solidarity with Mark Benschop. This is an experience I will not forget. Three times I addressed different magistrates while waiting for Benschop’s cases to be called.
In one instance, Benschop was a no-show so I had to explain to Magistrate Sohan that he was sick and attorney Robert Corbin was out the country.
In another instance the prosecutor in Magistrate Beharry’s court promptly arrested Mark Benschop on the pretext that Magistrate Chandan had issued a warrant for him.
Benschop was furious and resisted arrest because he kept telling the police in Magistrate’s Beharry court that Ms. Chandan had withdrawn the document
I was there when Ms. Chandan canceled the warrant. While three policemen tried to arrest Benschop, Magistrate Beharry fled the bench and sought refugee in her office. I intervened to tell the aggressive cops that I was a witness to the recall of the warrant and they can easily verify it.
While yelling out this information, a cop pushed me out of the courtroom. On resumption of the session, I openly addressed Magistrate Beharry and requested an apology from all the policemen because they had acted stupidly.
If they had listened to me, they could have verified the information I had volunteered and there would have been no commotion in the court. Finally, I got up and asked Magistrate Chandan to discipline her prosecutor when he told me that I couldn’t sit next to Benschop on the public bench. I was furious. It wasn’t the prisoners’ bench; there was no such section in Magistrate Chandan’s court. This guy was violating my rights and quite rightly, the Magistrate told him he was out of line.
Guyana has some poor lawyers and magistrates. I would like to know how these people pass their bar examinations. A majority of magistrates are ignorant of the bail structure.
What did they learn in class? Very few of these magistrates can be said to be knowledgeable of how bail is to be applied.
What I find most immoral is the absence of criticism from human rights groups and political parties on the abominable class content of bail. Mark Vieira was put on self bail. So was Mrs. French, the owner of Mae’s School. Yet Mark Benschop was assigned $10,000 when that very magistrate (Ms. Robertson) had granted him previous bails and he has been turning up in court more times than one can count.
Can a sociologist explain this? Why can Vieira and French be given self-bail and not Benschop? Indeed, on occasions Benschop was released on self bail.
Magistrate Ramdhanny of the Mahaicony bench was quick to write a letter to the newspapers denying that he shouted on the policeman not to shoot at alleged tax evader Godwin Marshall who jumped into the Mahaicony River and died after he was put on $40,000 bail by the same Magistrate.
Ramdhany didn’t explain in his letter why he did not grant self-bail when Maxwell was a well known citizen of Calcutta, Mahaicony.
In fact, Maxwell’s uncle told the press that he was in court to ask for a reduction in bail. No one called for the removal of Ramdhany.
The size of his bail assignment may have pushed Maxwell over the brink. I am saying that he should be made to resign.
Take the latest episode last week in Magistrate Octive-Hamilton’s court. Defence counsel used the defendant’s record of cooperation with the police and the defendant was put on $10,000 bail as the basis for requesting bail.
Octive-Hamilton bluntly told defence counsel that station bail is not a criterion for the consideration of bail. Fine! Then what is? Ms. Octive-Hamilton granted $30,000 bail. Defence counsel asked for a reduction of $20,000. It was refused.
I challenge this Magistrate to tell this country why she insisted on $30,000 and not $20,000. If she can do that with plausibility, I will cease writing the next day.

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Lawyers, magistrates and the poor and powerless

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