Retrial ordered for Machel and Kernal

A Magistrate's failure to provide her reasons for convicting multiple road march winner Machel Montano and songwriter Kernal Roberts in 2012 for assaulting patrons during a fracas at the Zen nightclub in 2007 has led to their being freed of the charges.

But almost a decade after the event, the two will now have to face another trial, as one has been ordered by the two appellate court judges who upheld their appeals and quashed their convictions.

Justices of Appeal Alice Yorke-Soo Hon and Mark Mohammed yesterday agreed that it was necessary for the magistrate to explain, even briefly, why she convicted them, but said because of the positions the two held in society as musical icons, it was in the interest of justice to have the allegations against them determined definitively at trial.

A new trial was ordered for the two, who were each placed on $50,000 bail, with their mothers, Elizabeth Montano and Valerie Green, agreeing to supervise the two while they are out on bail.

Montano and Roberts were convicted of assaulting several patrons during a fracas at the Zen nightclub at the corner of Keate and Frederick Streets, Port of Spain, on April 26, 2007.

Montano was found guilty of assaulting Gerard Bowrin, Janelle Lee Chee, Brandis Browne and Russell Pollonais by Magistrate Maureen Baboolal-Gafoor on December 10, 2012.

At the start of the appeal, the prosecution made attempts to obtain the magistrate’s reasons for convicting the two, but this met with objections from Montano and Roberts’ attorneys who argued that Baboolal-Gafoor has since retired from the bench and her judicial authority had ended.

Roberts was found guilty of assaulting both Browne and Pollonais. Two other artistes, Joel “Zan” Feveck and Rodney “Benjai” LeBlanc, who were also charged alongside Montano and Roberts, were found not guilty.

In a joint 87-page ruling yesterday, Soo Hon and Mohammed said magistrates had a statutory duty to give their reasons at the end of a case. They also provided magistrates with instructions, advising them to give brief but sufficient detailed reasons and provide a summary of testimony of the witnesses with the critical issues and the way they were resolved and why.

“We are not unmindful that the workload of the magistracy is tremendous,” they said, adding that they were also aware of the delay in sending notices of appeal to magistrates.

They have also called for “urgent mechanisms” to be put in place to ensure that already overburdened magistrates receive notices of appeal expeditiously, and suggested that magistrates make it a prudent practice to give a brief but succinct oral decision at the end of a case.

When convicted, Montano and Roberts were spared a possible jail sentence and instead ordered to compensate the victims of the attack as well as pay fines to the court. Montano was ordered to pay compensation totalling $13,500 and fines totalling $13,700. Roberts was ordered to pay compensation totalling $11,000 and fines totalling $13,000.

The judges also refused a cost order asked for by Montano and Roberts’ lawyers, Jagdeo Singh and Keith Scotland.

Assistant Director of Public Prosecutions George Busby prosecuted the appeal.

Also appearing for Montano was attorney Larry Williams, while Daniel Khan and Asha Watkins-Montserrin appeared for Roberts.