By AZARD ALI Friday, December 4 2009

THE State was yesterday forced to withdraw a case before the Appeal Court against three men for possession of 11 rounds of ammunition because the police complainant refused to appear in court yesterday.

In fact, of the 163 occasions on which the case was called in the Princes Town Magistrate’s Court, PC Melvin George was absent on several occasions.

On December 28, 2004, Terrence Lee, Talim Goberdhan and Donnie Ramkissoon, of New Grant, appeared before Magistrate Rae Roopchan who on May, 26, 2008, dismissed the case against them.

The case was called on 163 occasions before the magistrate, but PC Melvin George who laid the charge failed to show on several occasions. For want of prosecution, the magistrate dismissed the case against Lee, Goberdhan and Ramkissoon.

The State appealed the case and yesterday the matter came up before Appeal Court Judges Paula Mae Weekes and Gregory Smith.

Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions, Wayne Rajbansie, who prosecuted, asked their Lordships that the name of the police complainant be called outside the courtroom. It was done several times, but there was no appearance of George.

Rajbansie told the judges that regrettably he had no choice but to withdraw the State’s appeal of the magistrate’s decision to dismiss the case.