The 11 Sept. start date of the assault trial of former Premier McKeeva Bush has been moved to early November after his defence counsel raised concerns about the disclosure of evidence, which they claim will show a hidden agenda by Bush’s enemies to oust him from power and besmirch his reputation.
Bush, a veteran politician and the current West Bay West MP, faces two counts of indecent assault and two counts of common assault, all of which he has denied.
“Based on the responses from the two complainants, there were outside forces pushing and egging them on to report the matter, even though they themselves did not seem to think was a matter worthing troubling the police with,” said Bush’s attorney Dennis Brady.
During the brief Grand Court mention hearing on Monday, 4 Sept., Brady began reading out an email in which he claimed that former Governor Martyn Roper had attempted to intervene by requesting the resignation of Bush, who at the time was Speaker of the House.
However, Justice Cheryll Richards stopped Brady before the email could be read in its entirety.
“Judge, this email is proof… of a conspiracy by external forces that clearly show attempts by powerful forces to intervene in this matter, where there is one piece of communication there must be more,” Brady said. “So, we are asking for all the WhatsApp conversations and emails surrounding this matter.”
According to Brady, efforts to secure that correspondence and other documentation which would prove this conspiracy, have been met with resistance by the prosecution.
He added, “We have received a heavily redacted set of handwritten notes of a police officer from the prosecution, and we are currently awaiting further disclosure which, even if served, would still require additional time to process and check against what we have.”
Eloise Marshall, KC, for the Crown, told the court that the prosecution was ready to proceed with the case in line with the initial start date of Monday, 11 Sept.
“What little additional disclosure that is left to be served up to the defence counsel is due to be served within the next couple of days,” said Marshall. “However, this is the first time I am hearing of this email purported to have been by the governor and… what little disclosure that is left to be served upon the defence counsel does not include any such details.”
Marshall acknowledged that there might be additional disclosure that could be needed to assist with Bush’s defence. However, because Bush had not yet set out his defence, the prosecution was not in a position to determine what would and would not be of use.
“Although the trial is set to go ahead next week and the Crown is trial ready, the defendant has not yet made clear his defence,” Marshall said. “Until we know what his defence is, we can not know what information is relevant to his defence and therefore what additional information needs to be served.”
In addition to the evidence dispute, Brady also informed the court that mounting financial difficulties have caused a strain on Bush’s ability to secure representation by a King’s Counsel.
Ultimately, Richards accepted Brady’s application for an adjournment and pushed back the week-long jury trial to the first week of November.
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