Judge sets trial date as Brassington fails to secure Skype trial in libel case

Jun 30, 2019 News

Former head of the Privatisation Unit and former head of National Industrial and Commercial Investments Limited (NICIL) Winston Brassington will have his day in court against Kaieteur News in December.
The newspaper was critical of some of Brassington’s actions during his control of monies that should have been sent to the public treasury. NICIL’s money was used in many areas without the approval of the National Assembly.
It was used in the construction of the Marriott Hotel and in the construction of the Berbice River Bridge. And these were only two examples. On no occasion could the media secure information on the deals, because Brassington constantly cited confidentiality clauses.
It reached the stage where Brassington began to file writs after every publication in Kaieteur News. In the end there were 19 writs.
When the matter came up for Call Over in Justice Fidela Corbin-Lincoln’s court late last week, lawyers for Brassington immediately moved to have Brassington testify via Skype. But Justice Corbin-Lincoln could not readily accede to the request, given the limitations on the availability of the equipment.
The offshoot is that judges cannot fix trial dates or schedules according to Skype availability. So Justice Corbin-Lincoln went ahead and set December 16, next, for the first trial.
Given the large number of writs filed by Brassington, five of the writs with a common thread, to wit, the words “fat crook”, will be tried together.
The second trial is set for December 18, and the third on December 19, next. And those are not all the writs that have to be heard. The judge said that she now needs to sort out the other writs and fixed August 8, next, for the likely determination of the other trial dates.
From the inception, Kaieteur News declined to be muzzled in the face of what it saw as irregularities. The result is that Brassington sued repeatedly.

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