Public prosecutors have been criticised by Chief Magistrate Valdis Foldats for filing charges at the last minute and in a piecemeal manner.
“This continues to happen week in and week out, with no end in sight,” Foldats said in Summary Court on Tuesday, 2 Nov., while expressing his dismay at the revelation of new charges against Jaquan Joshua Mellard.
Mellard is serving a prison sentence of three-and-a-half years for a string of drug-fuelled burglaries and thefts, to which he pled guilty – putting the matter to rest, or at least so he thought.
On Tuesday, the Crown presented a new charge of criminal trespass and two charges of resisting arrest, each of which resulted from the same set of circumstances that Mellard previously admitted to.
“This unfortunate and unfair,” said Foldats. “All of these charges should have been before the court so he could have had the benefit of totality at the time of his original sentencing. These are all very simple matters, and the fact that they occurred in April but were only brought to Court in October is concerning.”
In Mellard’s case, the new charges were filed at the 11th hour, on the cusp of the six-month statute of limitations.
The statute of limitations is a legal guideline for Summary Court/criminal procedure cases that requires charges to be filed within six months from the time authorities become aware of the alleged offence. If not, the case must be dismissed.
“I’m not sure if the issue with getting the charges filed in a timely manner is a fault of the (Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions) or the RCIPS or both. However, I’m putting this matter back for another two weeks, and during that time I invite the ODPP to review the matter and consider offering no evidence on these new charges,” said Foldats.
However, in a matter of minutes, Foldats was dealing with the same issue, this time with J’Dante Mark Ramoon, who found himself facing several new charges.
“There is nothing we can do about it. We keep getting more and more papers, and this time we show up and we have found new driving, trespass and cocaine charges,” said Ramoon’s attorney Carina Clare.
“These matters all stem from the same set of facts and are alleged to have been a part of a spree of charges,” she added.
However, unlike Mellard, who was sentenced for his initial matters, Ramoon is still awaiting a decision on his sentencing.
“This is concerning because with the constant addition of new charges from what is in essence the same set of circumstances, we have to keep delaying his sentence, not just here in the Summary Court but also in the Grand Court where he is also awaiting a sentence in relation to an alleged breach,” Clare said.
Prosecutor Gavin Dixon, who was tasked with dealing with Tuesday’s Summary Court criminal list, stated that while he could not speak to the delays and the reasons behind them, he would endeavour to pass on the court’s concerns to the director of public prosecutions.
Related Videos
