Canadian vlogger Christopher Chris Must List Hughes has been granted permission to leave the country and return before his re-appearance in court next week.
Master Margaret Sookraj-Goswami acceded to the request of Hughes’ attorney Pamela Elder SC who said the lengthy delays in the criminal justice system were disadvantageous to her client and foreigners accused of criminal activities in general.
Sookraj-Goswami agreed to return Hughes’ passport and remove any reporting conditions attached to his $100,000 bail. She ordered that Hughes return on June 12 for his matter the day after and he re-lodges his passport with the court.
Elder said she represented foreigners in the Piarco Airport inquiry who were allowed to come and go and to have Hughes remain in the country on the “milk of human kindness” extended by his former attorney Criston Williams was not a comfortable position.
She said the Piarco matter involved millions of dollars as compared to the matter with Hughes, who faces a $3,000 fine or two years imprisonment.
Hughes, 45, also pleaded not guilty to publishing a seditious document.
When the matter was first called on Monday, state attorney Danielle Thompson said she was awaiting instructions from the Director of Public Prosecutions on how to proceed.
Elder said after discussing the matter with DPP Roger Gaspard, the state opted to proceed with a summary charge, which carries a lighter penalty.
Hughes, who was wearing a t-shirt with the word “freedom is a must”, wants to attend to his family before returning to face the courts in this country.
