A senior lawyer has reported a magistrate for her role in allegedly delaying the coroner’s inquest into the death of a man, who was killed by police over a decade ago.
In a letter sent to Chief Magistrate Maria Busby-Earle-Caddle, Senior Counsel Israel Khan, who is representing the three police officers before the inquiry, complained over the inordinate delay in starting the process.
Describing the case as the “most frustrating and difficult” in his career, Khan said: “It has caused me to have to challenge the boundaries of the slow wheels of justice in this jurisdiction as I know it and far beyond any I have experienced before.”
While Khan admitted that other magistrates, who had control over the case, contributed to the delays, he claimed that Magistrate Rehana Ali exacerbated the problem by failing to quickly rule on a procedural issue caused by the death of police complainant.
Khan wrote the letter after a hearing last week, in which Ali stated that she could not commence the case until the Police Service selected an officer to serve as a substitute complainant. She adjourned the case to December 5.
In his letter, Khan quoted Section 10 of the Coroners Act, which he said, empowered Ali to conduct the enquiry without the procedural issue being determined.
“I am of the firm opinion that her interpretation and understanding of the Act is erroneous and misguided,” Khan said.
As he called for an investigation into the delays in the case, Khan said he would refuse to appear at the next hearing unless Ali starts the case then.
Khan also called on Busby-Earle-Caddle to reconsider the current coroner’s inquest system.
“Magisterial experience at the Coroner’s Court is one of the issues which needs to be addressed, including the experience of all Coroners who now sit on the Bench and the length of time it takes for an inquest to be completed,” he said.
In a coroner’s inquest, a magistrate is assigned to consider the evidence surrounding the death of a person and determine if anyone should be held liable. Inquests are used in most cases of questionable deaths including police killings, prison deaths and in some cases where the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) finds that police have insufficient evidence to implicate a suspect.
Khan’s clients Cpl Clarke and PCs Peters and Harewood are before an inquest in relation to the death of 21-year-old Mustapha “Taliban” Edwards in April 2008.
According to initial police reports, a group of police officers and soldiers were on joint patrol along Pump Trace, in Laventille, when they were allegedly shot at by a group of men. They reportedly returned fire and Edwards was shot several times while the other suspects escaped.
Edwards’ death caused protest in his community as friends and relatives claimed that he was executed by police.
