(Trinidad Express) With the start of the new law term, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) came in for criticism from judges from the Court of Appeal who called on the State to get its act together.
The comments were made during the matter involving Peter Radgman, who filed an appeal after being convicted of murder back in 2019.
The State, however, was not ready to proceed and Justice Alice Yorke-Soo Hon said that the panel, which also consisted of Justices Vasheist Kokaram and Gregory Smith, was disturbed that the State was unprepared.
“Today is only the second day of the new law term and we were really hoping that the State would have gotten its act together,” Yorke-Soo Hon said,
She added: “Nearly in every single matter the State is never ready, their submissions are always filed late, never on time and there is always some long excuse.”
She said that such excuses have been heard over the years and State attorneys had become “experts at apologies”. Yorke-Soo Hon described the apologies as eloquent.
She said she knew that the DPP’s department was pressed but it could not be holding up the court. She said Radgman had spent ten years waiting for a trial at the High Court and his appeal had come up approximately three years after his conviction.
“Surely we want to deal with this matter.”
She added that people should not be left with questions and waiting in limbo over their matter.
“We are very, very concerned and we want this type of performance by the State to stop. We need to get on,” Yorke-Soo Hon said.
Ready to proceed
She also said that when members of the public hear there is a delay, “everybody is jumping on the court’s back… People wouldn’t say that it was the DPP’s department that was not ready, they will say the court make Dr (Gerard) Hutchinson (the appellant’s witness) come here to waste his time today, that’s the perception”.
However, she said that the court was present and ready to proceed.
While the judge noted that there were many times when the appellant is not ready, “these days it is mainly the State”.
She added that such an attitude will not advance the interest of justice.
“We are very concerned and so we want to communicate that to you (Deputy DPP Tricia Hudlin-Cooper) and to the DPP himself and to the entire department that we are not going to tolerate the way in which the DPP’s department is undertaking things.”
She said that since July the State had filed notice that there would have been an attempt to introduce fresh evidence through the medical records of Hutchinson.
Hudlin-Cooper explained that, given the type of witness he is, a special type of cross-examination will have to be used and, while she knew about him, she was unaware that he was going to be present yesterday for the matter. She said the State did not intend to disrespect the court or to be “a plug in the wheel”. The State was also represented by Assistant DPP Sabrina Dougdeen-Jaglal. The judge accepted Hudlin-Cooper’s apology but advised that she not anticipate the court.
Kokaram also urged, when applications are filed, that attorneys for both sides should confer early to allow for the efficient management of hearings. He said they are not there as gladiators, to fight a battle, but to help the court.
Yorke-Soo Hon said while they were constrained to grant the time to the State, they would do it “with very heavy hearts”.
She said having regard to the seriousness of the matter, it being an appeal in a murder case, and applying the rules fairness, the issues involving Hutchinson will be heard on November 10.
However, the matter did continue yesterday, with the judges hearing submissions from both sides for hours on the grounds of appeal, submitted by Ragdman’s attorney Bindra Dolsingh, that did not involve the doctor.
Sentenced to hang
It was back in 2019, Radgman was sentenced to hang after a 12-member jury found him guilty of the 2009 murder of Kooldip Maharaj, at Lowlands, Tobago.
On the day, Maharaj, who was also known as Rishi Maharaj, of Barrackpore, was beaten with a tool known as a pig foot.
Radgman, who is now 55 years old, appealed his sentence back in 2019.
With the appeal, his attorney is seeking a reduction from murder to manslaughter and an opportunity for Radgman to be released in a few years, given the length of time he has been in custody.
