In a first for High Court sittings Justice Roxane George yesterday communicated with a witness based in London via audio-visual link, but a few glitches prevented the court from hearing the testimony.
Professor Audrey Butt Colson of Oxford University, UK joined the court from London via Skype to answer questions to determine her expertise as witness in the Akawaio and Arekuna Amerindian land rights case from the Upper Mazaruni District—Van Mendelson v the Attorney General.
Professor Butt Colson agreed to give evidence in the case after being approached by defence counsel Nigel Hughes.
She was in a position to testify yesterday, but it was later determined that two additional laptop computers have to be set up in the courtroom for the proceedings to run smoothly.
Hughes, using the Evidence (Amendment) Bill 2008, had applied to the court for Professor Butt Colson to testify by audio-visual link.
He secured the order last year to proceed and the trial was set to continue yesterday with the professor joining via Skype.
The Guyana Telephone & Telegraph (GT&T) agreed to establish the link for Professor Butt Colson to join the proceedings and technicians attached to the company struggled for a while before Skype was up and running on the large computer monitor set up in the courtroom.
It was shortly before 3 pm, more than hour after the proceedings were scheduled to begin that a link was established and the professor appeared on the monitor. The visuals were a bit fuzzy though the audio was clear.
Justice George, speaking with the witness, informed her that all the systems were not in place for the court to proceed with the hearing. Professor Butt Colson communicated that she was hearing the judge clearly and also had a good visual of her but she was unable to see Hughes and state counsel Naresh Harnanan.
The case was adjourned to later this month when the laptops would be set up in the courtroom to allow Professor Butt Colson to see and communicate with everyone involved in the case.
Hughes later told reporters that the technology is basic, but the company experienced some difficulties initially setting it up. He said the audio-visual quality should be improved by the next hearing and the first testimony in the country by audio-visual link would be taken.
Hughes noted that while the link was established with the Professor there is need for independent audio-visual link for the attorneys appearing in the case.
Harnanan told this newspaper after the hearing that yesterday was basically a dry run.
He said the state is ready to proceed when all the systems are in place.
Professor Butt Colson travels infrequently due to her age and as such Hughes had applied for the order to have her evidence taken by audio visual link.
Hughes has hailed the audio visual provisions as “extremely useful.”
He said the criminal justice system has been plagued by countless adjournments to facilitate witnesses coming in from overseas.
However, he said an audio-visual link is all that is required to take evidence. “In this age of computers and Skype we could take testimonies in a cost effective way,” he told this newspaper last December.
