Wheels of Justice running on rims, not tyresBy AZARD ALI Thursday, March 5 2009
click on pic to zoom in
BONDED: Darryl Vincent (left) and Ricky Charles, leave San Fernando High Court yesterday after signing a $5,000 bond to keep the peace for three years...
HIGH Court judge Herbert Volney, forced to free two men on a bond yesterday for armed robbery, launched a stinging attack on the administration of justice saying that the wheels of justice were running on rims, not tyres.
After seven years awaiting trial for robbing two women at gunpoint since February 28, 2002, Darryl Vincent, 41, and Ricky Charles, 45, of San Fernando, opted to plead guilty yesterday.
Saying he could not now jail the men given their long wait for trial, Volney launched an attack on the judicial administration in which he said cases are lost in the system with accused persons locked away in jail.
Volney told Vincent and Charles that had their cases been tried years ago, a judge would have imposed stiff sentences on them for the crime.
The case was that the two men stormed into Ali’s Coating Ltd, Gasparillo, tied up Rookmin Perrali and Lystra Kalloo at gunpoint, then robbed them of two gold rings, a gold Beera, a watch, and $48 in cash.
Cpl Winston Hajarie and PC Terrence Rahim responded from the Gasparillo Police Station and confronted Vincent and Charles leaving the premises with a nine millimetre gun stuck in the waist of one of the accused.
Hajarie and Rahim accosted both men, seized the gun, recovered the jewelry and cash.
In 2005 Vincent and Charles were committed to stand trial, and yesterday was their first opportunity to face a judge to plead their case.
Both men pleaded guilty to robbery, possession of gun and ammunition. But after seven long years, Volney said, the objective of sentencing by the courts is defeated when the “substance” of the allegation is lost after such prolonged delays. Sentencing therefore, he added, is transformed into exacting mere punishment. “What might seem retribution of the law, now becomes revenge of the law,” Volney told Vincent and Charles. The two victims, Perrali and Kalloo, sat in the public gallery. In ordering both to each sign a bond of $5,000 to keep the peace for three years, Volney asked Vincent and Charles if they were minded to apologise to the victims. When both accused men turned around in the dock and said they were sorry, Perrali and Kalloo wiped tears from their eyes. Calling for the banning of preliminary inquiries (PI), Volney said that PI’s were a plague in the criminal judicial system that were causing unnecessary delays. Measures, the judge added, must be introduced like yesterday for today, “and it does not require any complex solution”.
Reiterating that he could not jail Vincent and Charles though they had been on bail awaiting trial, Volney said, “All it requires is systemic changes. All it takes is some wisdom from above by the persons who understand the problems. This year will be 15 years on the bench and I think I can speak on the subject with some degree of authority.”
Commenting on the judge’s sentence, Kalloo said, “I am glad it’s over. I accepted the apology, but it’s over.” Victim Perrali said that she had no opinion about how the case ended. “Well, the judge explained everything,” she quipped.
