There is not trial by chronological order

Aug 03, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
Having read two columns and one letter penned by Mr Frederick Kissoon I came to the realization that he knows precious little about the law.
He seems concerned that his matter is coming up in court before many others, some in the system long before his. He suggests that this is unusual. “If Justice Chang responded to an early trial request, then, weren’t there others from many lawyers? If so, would he not have to bring forward my lawyer’s request in front of others that were already there because of a well known gigantic backlog?”
First, a matter can only go to trial if all the depositions or decisions are in the system. The backlog is largely due to decisions not being written in a timely manner. If the decisions are not there then the case cannot be heard.
Many matters cannot go to the court of appeal because of this failure to have the decisions written. Recently, the Parliament passed a law that gives judges a timeframe within which to write decisions.
Second, there is no chronology in the manner cases are presented for trial. Two lawyers, Sanjeev Datadin and Priya Manickchand moved to the court of appeal to prevent Mark Benschop’s treason trial being heard before some of the other cases in the courts.
They argued that he was jumping the queue and that this should not be.
Khemraj Ramjattan defended Benschop’s right to his trial ahead of the others. Ironically, Ramjattan is again there to defend Kissoon during his early trial.
The Guyana Court of Appeal ruled that there can be no chronological order in trials. It ruled that a man whose case is ready for trial cannot be made to sit in jail because some magistrate or judge failed to write a decision for someone whose matter was in the court earlier.
Mr Kissoon may feel that he has jumped the queue when in fact it has turned out that he has got his written decision before many others in the system.
The challenge against Synergy Holdings by Ramon Gaskin and Christopher Ram was also heard speedily because the judge had written his decision speedily.
Kissoon may wish to petition judges and magistrates to write their decisions in a timely manner and so get their trial date early.
Edward Pellew

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