A policeman showed up at Monday’s hearing into the ammunition and firearm case again ex-soldiers James Gibson and Oliver Hinckson.
The afternoon session of the trial came to an abrupt end after Magistrate Gordon Gilhuys announced that he was adjourning the matter along with all the others. He did not give reasons.
After being issued with a warning at a previous hearing to have their police witnesses present in court to continue the trial which has been stalled since 2006, a rank was cross-examined minutes after the magistrate recalled the arrest warrant for Gibson and announced an ex-parte trial.
An arrest warrant was issued for Gibson in January this year when he failed to appear and since then he has not been seen or heard from.
Policeman Cleveland Browne returned to the witness box when the case was called around midday on Monday. He had last given evidence in August 2006.
Attorney-at-law Mark Waldron, one of the defence counsel representing Hinckson cross-examined Browne.
The policeman testified that Major Best was a member of the joint services and if he sees him he will be able to identify him. Browne said too that he is certain that he had not seen him since June 2006 and that he has never been on a criminal exercise since the incident. Prosecutor Robert Tyndall declined re-examination. As the second witness was about to be called, the magistrate said that he would be breaking for lunch and another witness would be taken at 1:30 pm.
However before the case could be called the magistrate said that he was adjourning all matters scheduled for that afternoon.
When another member of Hinckson’s defence team Nigel Hughes inquired as to the reason for the decision the magistrate responded “I am adjourning the matters for the rest of the afternoon for reasons best known to me”.
The matter will continue tomorrow.
The two are jointly charged with having a .38 pistol, 12 .38 rounds and 26 12-gauge shotgun cartridges on June 6, 2006 at Lot 115 Aubrey Barker Street, South Ruimveldt.
The two had made their first appearance in court on June 12, 2006 and were subsequently released on $75,000 bail each. They denied the allegations that were made against them.
Two months before they were caught, the army issued wanted bulletins for them, following the disappearance of 30 AK-47 rifles and five pistols from GDF headquarters. They were then out of sight until police acting on a tip-off swooped on the South Ruimveldt house around 2 pm on June 6. During the search of the premises, the illegal items were reportedly found. The two men were taken to army headquarters before being handed over to police.
The trial began two months later with the testimony of Criminal Investigation Department (CID) rank Browne.
