UWI students reappear in court

LAWYERS for the two University of the West Indies’ students who were arrested during at protest at the St Augustine campus, last month, are still requesting information from the prosecution.

A formal request for the information was made after prosecutors failed to provide the disclosure to the lawyers.

The two students - Nathaniel George, 19 and Brian Richards, 23 - returned to the Tunapuna magistrates' court this morning, however, there was no magistrate present.

Instead, a justice of the peace adjourned the case to February 21.

Appearing for the two are John Jeremie, SC, Keith Scotland, Ian Brooks, Prakash Ramadhar, Brian Baig and Keisha Kydd-Hanibal.

At today’s brief hearing, prosecutors said they were in no position to make any disclosures to the defence. It was for this reason the request was made in writing.

The information the defence team for the two is asking for include copies of any statements or interviews given by the students, statements of civilian witnesses and police officers, the name of the person who called the police to the scene, the nature of the complaint, station diary extracts, police pocket diary extracts, any CCTV footage, photographs or video footage in the police’s possession.

George and Richards were charged with obstructing a police officer in the conduct of his duty and resisting arrest.

They have pleaded not guilty to the charges and were each granted $5,000 bail by magistrate Sherene Murray-Bailey.

According to the police’s reports, the students were arrested after they allegedly tried to prevent officers from reopening UWI’s southern gates to traffic during a protest by students who were calling for more security measures at the campus.

The protest was sparked by the sexual assault of a second-year female student at the Student Activity Centre.