Justice Brassington Reynolds was yesterday forced to adjourn the Bharrat Jagdeo libel suit after his lawyer and the chief witness failed to turn up. He later awarded $20, 000 costs to two defence lawyers in the case who had turned up.
When the case was last heard, yesterday’s date was set aside for the continuation of the matter. Jagdeo’s lead attorney Anil Nandlall was absent yesterday but defence counsel Christopher Ram and Nigel Hughes were present.
Addressing the court on behalf of Nandlall, attorney Sase Gunraj asked the court for an adjournment submitting that the chief witness Dr. Roger Luncheon was tending to matters of national importance and as such was unable to make an appearance. Hughes immediately objected on the grounds that no letter was sent to the judge for such a request.
Hughes told Stabroek News that the objection was based on the fact that no justifiable reason was given and that they didn’t “have the courtesy to notify us”. He said that he later asked the court for costs to be rewarded to them and that request was granted.
Hughes said that the excuse provided by Gunraj was not good enough since the defence has candidates (who are part of the elections) and they were present in court for the proceedings.
The case will continue on December 21.
A $10 million libel case was brought by Jagdeo against Kaieteur News columnist Freddie Kissoon, Kaieteur News Editor Adam Harris and the National Media and Publishing Company Ltd, the newspaper’s publisher.
The libel suit was prompted by a June 28, 2010 Kissoon article titled, ‘King Kong sent his goons to disrupt the conference’, and the defence is seeking to justify its portrayal of Jagdeo as an ideological racist who heads a government that practises racism.
