S.I. to Declare Charles Hyde Building the Bladen Trial Venue 

But while the media was inadvertently disallowed from entering the building to attend the court session, it didn’t miss out of very much. Bradley said that all that happened was that the attorneys are to agree on which witnesses are not required to testify in person. The witnesses will number at least sixty. Yes, sixty, because the Head of the Prosecutions Branch, Alifa Elrington has indicated that she has sixty witnesses whose evidence they will rely on. And while the trial starts on Monday, it is expected that another oversight will be quickly addressed. A Statutory Instrument declaring that the Charles Hyde building has been assigned for the Bladen trial needs to be put out before the trial begins. That is in following proper procedures, which involve informing the head of the Judiciary and the Magistracy, as well as the Attorney General and the Solicitor General, indicating the reason for such. Bradley explained that efforts have been made to put those procedures in motion, but time was of the essence.

 

Dickie Bradley, Defense Attorney

“The rules are made to guide us. They are not to be obstacles that you can’t overcome. There is a small little – not even an emergency – there’s a small little problem, and there are two matters which we need to bear in mind: that there are a dozen accused persons. The courts on Coney Drive, which are temporary crisis management situations, cannot really accommodate twelve accused persons, five attorneys, a magistrate, and so on. Yes, there is a law that requires that a publication is made where a court is going to be held in a new environment. The courts in the country are so important to all of us that when you are moving from Albert Street to Coney Drive, the nation should know, people should know where the court is.”

 

Marion Ali

“Was that done in this case?”

 

Dickie Bradley

“That was being done in this case, yes. I’m not them, I’m not with them either, I’m with you. If they made a little slip down, it’s understandable, it is explainable. And there is no malice or no attempt to try – I saw a media personality, a journalist, sent me a text making the suggestion that it is deliberate because they don’t want the media to be present. But that is not true. I know what happened here. I was, there.”