In May, 2003, Justin John, an Amerindian from Karasabai, was arrested for murder, a charge which does not permit of bail. The Magistrate’s court with jurisdiction to hear the Preliminary Inquiry in respect of a murder charge in Karasabai is seated in Lethem. It convenes a few times per month. The Inquiry took five years, during which time John remained in prison on remand.
Many of the adjournments in the Lethem proceedings were necessitated by the failure of the prison authorities to transport John from the Camp Street prison to Lethem to be present at the hearing. He was eventually committed to stand trial in 2008, but could not secure a jury trial until May, 2010, when, at his trial, the prosecution produced one witness – a police officer – and could not produce