By AZARD ALI Saturday, February 9 2013

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JUDGE NO MORE: Anthony Carmona leaves the San Fernando Courthouse yesterday afternoon after completing his last day on the bench. Next stop, Office of...

ON THE last day as a judge, Anthony Carmona — who will soon be addressed as His Excellency, the President — was a busy man, dishing out a total of 36 years in prison sentences, fines totalling $20,000 and bonds to keep the peace, as six persons stood before him to face judgment in separate cases.

It was a hectic day for Carmona, who next week Friday will be declared the fifth President of TT. There will be no election by secret ballot by the Electoral College since Carmona is the sole nominee, as the Government’s choice for the Presidency and since the Opposition PNM could not muster the required 12 MP signatures needed to put forward its own nominee.

Carmona presided over the sentencing review of Michael Mc Sween, 37, charged with the murder of his sister, Angela Banahar, in 2000. Carmona sentenced Mc Sween to 20 years in jail.

Carmona then sentenced Luke Gloudon, also up for sentencing review for the murder of his father Nestor Gloudon, to 16 years in jail. The judge ordered Mc Sween’s sentence to commence from 2003, when he was convicted, and Gloudon to begin in 2007, when he was convicted.

Both Mc Sween and Gloudon were patients at St Ann’s Psychiatric Hospital and as part of his judgment, Carmona ordered both men be subjected to review by the court in 2015.

Carmona then dealt with the case of Carlton Cummings, 80, of Indian Walk, Moruga, who was charged with wounding his neighbour Emanuel Bishop. Cummings pleaded guilty on Monday and yesterday, Carmona ordered the elderly man to sign a bond of $5,000 to be of good behaviour for the next three years. Attorney Richard Valere represented Cummings.

Accused Jerome Barker, who pleaded guilty to possession of a gun and ammunition two weeks ago, was yesterday ordered by Carmona to pay $10,000 for each count. Kerry Gour was made to sign a $5,000 bond to be on good behaviour for the next three years after pleading guilty to arson.

Joel Brown, was sentenced to eight months imprisonment with hard labour after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Dexter Alexander, guilty of bigamy and ordered to pay a fine of $10,000, had failed to do so. Carmona ordered him to pay that fine by Ash Wednesday or an arrest warrant would be issued.

After Carmona completed his work, he stood up, looked at the courtroom — the last time he would be standing in one as a judge — and left. Outside the courthouse, he was mobbed by media personnel before leaving in his vehicle.