BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – ALTHOUGH it officially commenced a couple of days ago, the May 2009 Criminal Assizes does not get into full swing until next Tuesday when the actual trial of cases will begin.
The arraignment proceeding took place on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 at the Basseterre High Court of Justice located at the Sir Lee Llewellyn Moore Judicial and Legal Services Complex.
During the proceedings, an approximate 60 persons submitted pleas to the charges brought against them and for those who pleaded guilty, sentencing dates were set while trial dates were set for the others. The remainder of the week has been used to deal with a number of matters, however, come Tuesday, June 2, Anthony and Chesley James are expected to be tried for “wounding with intent” and “unlawful wounding”.
Junior Stevens, Rawle Benjamin and Glenville Maynard’s “robbery” case is slated for June 10 while the case of murder brought against Lionel Warner is scheduled to take place on June 15.
Other cases scheduled to be tried in June include Chadin Buchanan who is charged with one count of “robbery”; Garvey Rogers who is charged with one count of “shooting with intent”; that involving Junior Stevens, Rawle Benjamin, Glenville Maynard who are jointly charged with “robbery”; and the case of robbery against Chelston Hanley.
Malvy Drew and Lester Tross are expected to stand trial for the murder of Shamari ‘Kwazi’ Williams on June 22.
Quite a number of cases was also scheduled for hearing in July including that of “indecent assault”; “having a firearm in possession with intent to endanger life” which is being brought against Vernon Lake; “wounding with intent” brought against Athnel Daniel”; that of Jermaine Brown who was charged with “robbery”; and Elvis Bradshaw and Wendell Prentice who have been accused of committing respective offences of “indecent assault” and “rape”.
The case in which Verlyn Zakers is accused of illegally importing firearms into the Federation through the Robert L. Bradshaw International Airport is expected to be heard on July 7.
Cases of murder brought against Bishu Isaac, Elroy Williams and Mekel Clarke are scheduled for hearing on July 6, July 13 and July 20 respectively.
Other cases scheduled for hearing in July include that of Louis Richards who is charged with “wounding with intent”; Anthony Daniel who is charged with “wounding with intent”; Rudolph John who is charged with “indecent assault”; and Evan Daniel and Jamoy Warner who are charged with “shooting with intent”.
The murder cases of Wycliffe Liburd along with Patrick Weekes & Calvester Herbert are also scheduled for hearing during the present assizes.
The Director of Public Prosecutions and her team have an approximate two months to dispose of the cases.
