The State is ready to begin paper committal proceedings against three men charged with the murder of Sgt Hayden Manwaring. When the matter was called before Senior Magistrate Lucina Cardenas-Ragoonanan in the San Fernando court yesterday State prosecutor Stacy Lalloo-Chung said 43 statements had been filed, sworn and served on the defence .
But the accused — Kerron Nicholas Garcia, 20, Anthony Clement, 38, and Kelvin Wallace, 24 — complained about the representation they were receiving from their lawyers. Wallace said the attorneys were not allowing them to see the statements to give them instructions. Agreeing they ought to see the statements, the magistrate told them they would have to decide whether or not they wanted to change their attorneys. The magistrate also asked Lalloo-Chung to contact the attorneys to find out their state of readiness and which witnesses they would be requesting for cross-examination and said she expected the attorneys to contact the accused before the next adjournment date.
The three are charged with murdering Manwaring, 42, on February 19, 2013. He was shot and killed while trying to arrest robbery suspects at Butler Street, San Fernando. PC Nicholas Phillip was also shot during the incident. A fourth accused, Kofi Cropper, 40, died earlier this year. The matter was adjourned to October 30 for a status report.