(Jamaica Gleaner) For the first time in 48 years, George Williams had his day in a court of law yesterday.
Bearded and sporting short dreadlocks, the 71-year-old, dressed in a white T-shirt and khaki pants, walked self-assuredly into the St Catherine Circuit Court and stared engagingly at Justice Stephanie Jackson-Haisley.
The murder accused, who has spent half a century in prison without a trial, will appear next Wednesday when it is anticipated that he will be released into the custody of his family.
Williams, who is incarcerated at the St Catherine Adult Correctional Centre, sat quietly and only rose when he was asked by the judge to stand.
The now-septuagenarian was arrested and charged with the murder of a man in July 1970, but the then 20-year-old was declared unfit to plead, said his attorney-at-law, Isat Buchanan.
Justice Jackson-Haisley, after hearing the application brought by his attorney, ordered the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to make a decision as to how to proceed with the matter no later than next Wednesday.
“The DPP was given such time to find the court file for the case that he is to answer, and this is important towards the result we seek,” Buchanan said after the proceedings.
BUREAUCRATIC LAG
He said that he was elated at Williams’ imminent release, re-emphasising that the bureaucratic lag should never have happened.
“Williams has been in prison from before I was born, so one cannot imagine what he has been through,” Buchanan said.
He is one of seven mentally ill men identified in the Independent Commission of Investigations report who have each spent at least 40 years in prison awaiting trial.
Buchanan told The Gleaner that Wednesday’s hearing was a step in the right direction and that he “would hope that this case would give guidance to other counsel to volunteer and identify our brothers and sisters who have been lost in penal institutions”.
Buchanan said that Williams, 71, was shocked when he heard that he had been summoned to court.
“He was in awe and said that he, too, was happy to have had his day in court,” the attorney noted.
Justice Jackson-Haisley also ordered that a social-enquiry report be done on Williams’ family to ensure that they can provide satisfactory accommodations.
Williams’ relatives, brother Aldrin Jones and Jones’ niece Pamela Green, who were both present in court, were told to facilitate access to an independent psychiatrist.
“I think the judge was fair, and she recognised the urgency and importance of the matter and in the interest of justice and for George himself that all things are in place for his release,” said Buchanan.
