Almost all the cases in High and Magistrates’ Courts in Port-of-Spain had to be postponed because of yesterday morning’s nationwide police roadblocks. Judges, magistrates, lawyers and even police officers were not immune from the situation as most had not arrived at the courts by the 9 am daily start. The few police officers of the Court and Process Branch who did manage to evade their colleagues actions were seen patrolling the corridors of both courts as they updated members of the public on the situation.
Only two magistrates at the St Vincent Street courthouse had arrived for work by 10 am with both of them spending the rest of the morning adjourning cases. Among those affected was businessman Shaun Sammy, who was due to be sentenced for drunk driving. Sammy, the son of contractor Junior Sammy, was present in court for yesterday’s hearing but the case was adjourned to April 23.
The T&T Guardian understands that despite having police escorts at their disposal, prisoner transport services were also crippled by the action, preventing remand prisoners from being brought to the courts on time. People in police custody who were brought to court for their first court hearings were either returned to the police stations where they were charged or were forced to wait several hours as the handful of administrative staff present at the court processed their paperwork.
The situation was not much different at the civil and criminal courts at the Hall of Justice, Knox Street, Port-of-Spain. Justice Malcolm Holdip was forced to adjourn the Vindra Naipaul-Coolman trial in the absence of the 12 accused men. The case is expected to resume tomorrow. Several civil judges who live in south Trinidad attempted to mitigate the situation by conducting their scheduled hearings in Port-of-Spain via video conferencing from courtrooms at the San Fernando High Court.
Despite their efforts, they were still forced to adjourn their cases as lawyers were unable to attend either court. The situation is also said to have affected other courts acrosss the East West Corridor. This is the second time in less than a month that the police’s ongoing wage negotiations have crippled the courts. Similar scenes occurred when police, fire and prison officers engaged in a go slow on March 9.