Chief Magistrate Angelyn Hernandez has issued a stern warning to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions that if they “don’t get their house in order” they will not be permitted to bring additional charges against a man who has admitted to several burglaries.
The defendant, Peter Ebanks, is a known offender with mental health issues who, according to his lawyer, has made several admissions of guilt in relation to three recent burglaries for which he is currently on remand at Northward Prison awaiting sentencing.
However, the matter is unable to proceed as the ODDP has not charged him for all the relevant matters in relation to the string of burglaries.
“This is not a case where the defence knows about an issue but the prosecution is unaware because the matter is still with police,” said defence attorney Oliver Grimwood, in Summary Court on Tuesday, 7 May, while addressing the four months of delays.
According to Grimwood, the prosecution must have known about Ebanks’ admissions of guilt in relation to other burglaries because they were referenced in documents attached to his main file, but not formally produced as charges.
“The issue we have is that Ebanks has admitted to stealing in excess of 40 pairs of trainers (sneakers) but the charges that he currently faces do not add up to this amount,” Grimwood explained.
He added, “I’m not advocating for more charges for my client but what we don’t want is that we arrive at sentencing and then we can’t proceed because there are new charges.”
While expressing his concern about a potential abuse of process, Grimwood called on the court to intervene to prevent a further delay in the matter.
“There must be a cut-off and there must be some certainty in relation to this matter,” said Hernandez, before asking the prosecutor representing the ODPP for an update.
“I suspect this might have been an oversight, as I believe the matter was due for a review,” said Neil Kumar, who added that he would ask Scott Wainwright, the assistant deputy director of public prosecutions, to contact Grimwood to resolve the matter.
“There must be an end to this, we can’t just be waiting, and waiting and waiting,” replied Hernandez. “I am granting one further adjournment for one week and if your office does not have their house in order they will not be permitted to bring any additional charges.”
According to Hernandez, the way the prosecution has dealt with the matter “has been unfair” to Ebanks, despite his history and recent admissions of guilty.
Ebanks has been remanded into custody until 14 May, at which point the prosecution has been ordered to make clear their position.
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