BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - ATTORNEY-AT-LAW Denzil Hinds would be appearing before the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal next week to challenge his November 2012 conviction of a contempt of court charge.
Hinds was convicted for contempt of court on November 23, 2012, following the alleged utterance of a certain phrase after the case in which he was the defence attorney was declared a mistrial.
Speaking with SKNVibes, Hinds explained that it is not likely that the case would be heard next week as he has yet to received a transcript he had been requesting for quite some time.
"I am definitely appealing. I haven't heard from my attorneys in relation to what exactly is going to take place. But what I do know is that the complete transcript of the trial which was being conducted from November 19, 2012 and ended on November 22, even though I have requested it since 2012, I have not received it and I am not proceeding with the appeal until I have the complete transcript."
Hinds said it is imperative that he has the complete transcript in order to proceed with the matter.
The lawyer was defending a male Nevisian and another young man who were facing charges of rape and robbery that were allegedly committed on November 23, 2010.
On behalf of the prosecution, 13 witnesses were scheduled to testify at the trial, three of whom had already given evidence when the case was declared a mistrial.
While conducting the cross-examination, Hinds was said to be 'going off track' with the questions he was posing to the witnesses as some were deemed irrelevant to the case.
He was also said to have been questioning the witnesses for excessive periods of time causing the trial to stretch beyond the expected time.
It was also indicated that his attitude towards the Court was abhorrent, especially when certain questions were dismissed by the judge, Justice Paul Dennis.
The judge was said to have been warning Hinds since the start of the trial about his manner of defence. And after he had begun shouting at the virtual complainant and put certain implications to her, Justice Dennis took action.
The judge declared the case a mistrial on November 22, 2012 and Hinds' alleged reply to that was "that is what I wanted all the time".
Upon hearing the alleged statement, Justice Dennis found Hinds in contempt of Court.
At the contempt hearing on November 23, 2012, Hinds was provided a copy of the Court's transcript for the period 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. the previous day, which was around the time the mistrial was declared and he was found in contempt.
Hinds in turn requested a transcript for the entire case which Justice Dennis denied.
When Justice Dennis asked Hinds if he had anything to say before he was sentenced, he allegedly proceeded to ask for the full transcript, which was again denied.
His Lordship then read from the transcript and, before passing judgment, told Hinds that he [Justice Dennis] found him to be arrogant.
Justice Dennis said Hinds had no remorse for the manner in which he treated the alleged rape victim and that he was not contrite.
The lawyer was sentenced to spend 10 days at Her Majesty's Prison but was placed on bail a few days later pending his appeal of conviction.
The appeal was expected to be heard sometime next week during the sitting of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Appeal scheduled for February 10 to 14.
