Appeal Court judges in Montserrat
Following a special sitting of the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal when Chief Justice Sir Hugh Rawlins after having announced his retirement from that head position of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court of Apeal heard and responded to members of the Montserrat bar bid farewell, he presided in his capacity with two other Appeal Court judges over a hearing on Application for Bail. The hearing was postponed.
The application was filed by Attorney Warren Cassell who was imprisoned for five years after being convicted on a single count of money laundering on an indictment which included 11 other charges of fraud.
There were two defendants, Warren Cassell and Cassell & Lewis in the case which was probably the longest in history of the High Court in Montserrat, ended with Cassell’s conviction on Feb. 15, 2012, on nine Counts “Procuring execution of valuable security by deception” sentenced to two (2) years imprisonment; to run currently with the conviction of one count of money laundering sentenced to five (5) years imprisonment. Cassell & Lewis was fined $125,000 for conspiracy to defraud.
Mr. Warren Cassell, gave the Featured Address
Cassell filed an appeal against his conviction on main ground that the indictment was a nullity by virtue of the fact that 10 of the counts on the January 24, 2012 indictment were duplicitous; that the indictment upon which the Applicants on the 10th day of February, 2012 were arraigned, was never filed in the High court in accordance with section 118 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code…
Also that, “on the face of the papers before the court, the conviction appears plainly wrong so that his appeal has every prospect of success,” offered by Attorney Leon Chaku Symister.
The bail hearing lasted two and a half hours while the Chief Justice Rawlins and the other two appeal judges, Justices Ian Mitchell and Mario Michel enquired of Attorney Symister appearing for the Appellant and Oris Sullivan for the Respondent their arguments for and against the application.
In the end due to the lack of the needed supporting evidence through the unavailable transcript of the trial, the judges postponed the hearing. According to the court reporter/stenographer, she told the judges it could take up to a month longer for the full transcript of the trial to be available.
The Appeal judges then ordered the transcript of that part of the trial surrounding the amended indictment, the subject of the claim by Symester as an important event in his bail application.
The full Order of the Court follows: “
- Court Reporter is hereby ordered to prepare the Transcript for 10th and 13th of February, 2012 as a matter of urgency and deliver it the Registrar.
- Registrar shall immediately upon receipt of the Transcript notify Counsel for the Parties and also make a copy of the Indictment as may have been amended by the Trial Judge available to Counsel for the Parties.
- Counsel for the Appellant shall file and serve an agreed bundle containing the Transcript for the relevant days and additionally the Bail Application, Affidavits, Submissions and a copy of the Indictment referred to in the Paragraph 2 of this Order as well as the Transcript of today’s proceedings.
- Upon filing of the Bundle, the Registrar shall immediately inform the Chief Registrar who shall set down the Bail Application for full Hearing at the earliest convenience of the Parties and the court.”
The Chief Justice had said that the hearing could take place at the next sitting of the Appeal Court whether in Grenada or in St. Lucia, offering the possibility of the matter being dealt with video conferencing.
Cassell meantime would wait for this hearing before knowing whether his application was successful which could also determine an outcome of his Appeal. The pleadings before the court also indicated that the grounds of appeal were incomplete as the Appellants were waiting for the said transcript for the trial which concluded just under three months ago.
Related stories and articles
http://www.themontserratreporter.com/the-case-of-warren-cassell-was-justice-flawed/
http://www.themontserratreporter.com/cassell-convicted-to-serve-5-years-in-prison/
